Chapter 4: For The Devil... I Am Enough
[KATYA]
Katya knew this wasn’t going to be easy. This barbarian was clearly not going to leave him alone, so he figured the best bet was to listen to him. Maybe if he listened to Sergei, they would be done quickly, and he would leave for his parents.
"Fine. What do you want with me, oh mighty master of Frolo?" Katya asked exaggeratedly, his eyes meeting Sergei’s fierce ones.
Sergei didn’t smile.
The man was looking at him like he was about to swallow him whole, which was not good because anyone Sergei looked at like that usually ended up six feet under. In most cases, their bodies were never found.
Perhaps that was where Katya was headed?
"Don’t..." Sergei warned.
"Don’t what, Sergei? Don’t give you time to explain whatever ridiculous ide—"
"Your mother is dying, Solnyshka," Sergei stated coldly, like it wasn’t obvious already.
Katya stiffened.
It was one thing to hear his father ask him to come to the hospital, but it was another to have this smug-looking bastard come here to tell him.
"Yeah, no shit. How about you keep me here so I can go say goodbyes with flowers in my hands at the memorial home, hmm?" Katya said bitterly.
Sergei didn’t react.
Didn’t say anything.
Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out an envelope and a pen. Two things that Katya wasn’t fond of. At least not for the moment anyway.
"He sent you with divorce papers," Katya whimpered.
He should have known.
Gods, he should have expected that this would come eventually. Especially given the way that Yaroslav had not even bothered yesterday.
Now he was being handed divorce papers.
The monitor on Katya’s side started beeping faster.
Katya felt his palms get sweaty. His head ached even more, and his lips went dry.
This was worse than any silent humiliation he had endured over the years.
His tears welled up, threatening to spill, but Katya refused to let Sergei see him cry.
Not him of all the people.
Not the devil of Frolo.
There was something about Sergei being here that shattered Katya’s heart to the core, and frankly, he was done.
He wouldn’t fight anymore.
Couldn’t even talk back.
Instead, he reached out his hands, as if he had given in to his fate. Like being abandoned by his husband more than once was something he was starting to get used to. Something he had to embrace because there wasn’t enough time to even cry.
"I... I’ll sign. If he wants his freedom so much, I’ll give it to him," Katya said, blinking his tears away.
Sergei didn’t even say a word.
Just handed Katya the envelope and the pen. Like that was all he needed anyway.
He didn’t try to explain, and he watched predatorily as Katya shakily opened the envelope. Didn’t look away as the omega pulled the papers from inside it, and didn’t blink when Katya finally got to look at the papers.
"They aren’t divorce papers," Katya breathed in relief.
But that relief turned into something else. Something that had him looking at Sergei like the man had very well lost his goddamn mind. Surely, he was reading all of this wrong, yeah?
Maybe his teary eyes were making him overthink.
So, Katya grabbed the end of the hospital sheet he was covered in and used it to wipe his tears. In that moment, he couldn’t care if Sergei saw his tears because there was just no way in hell this was true. It couldn’t be.
This...
This was madness.
Yet as Katya looked at the papers again with clear eyes, he realized he had been right the first time.
They were not divorce papers.
And honestly, it would have been way better if they had been.
Because this... This was worse.
Forbidden. Insane.
Even the devil wasn’t this audacious.
"A contract marriage?" Katya asked as he lifted his eyes to meet Sergei’s calculating eyes.
"So, you can read. I was starting to think you got stupid," Sergei said flatly.
Katya couldn’t even think right.
He didn’t have a comeback for that.
He was still shocked. Still trying to wrap his head around what he had just been handed. Surely Sergei had lost his mind, right?
"A contract marriage between Alpha Sergei Moskowsky... And Katya... Ro... Romanov," Katya read, and Sergei stared at him, waiting for him to understand what this was about fully.
Oh, this man was insane.
"By any chance, are you into human trafficking?" Katya asked.
Sergei snorted at that.
"Why would you think that?" Sergei asked.
But Katya was staring at him dead in the eyes, like this was the most serious discussion he was having.
"I’m not judging your pastime activities, but I’m starting to get worried about your sanity," Katya said.
Sergei stared, the smirk on his face long gone.
In its place was the same stoic face the man had had when he had walked into this hospital room. But even so, Katya wasn’t fazed.
"I would never traffic you," Sergei said after a long silence.
"Right... you would just come into my hospital room with a marriage contract when you and I know I am married... To YOUR stepson," Katya said, emphasizing it like he was trying to talk this barbarian into early therapy.
"How reassuring," Katya said before he put the papers and pen back into the envelope, then handed it back to Sergei, who was staring at him like this was not what he had expected.
"I’m aware," Sergei said, his eyes following the omega’s every move, studying him, waiting.
"I already wasted enough time with you here. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a mother in need of surgery to actually get to. One who needs me there," Katya said in the calmest tone he could muster.
He knew he wasn’t strong enough to deal with the last IV, so he would just drag himself to the nurses’ station and have them remove it, seeing as the devil of Frolo wasn’t exactly willing to help him out.
"You’re not going anywhere before you sign the contract," Sergei said coldly, and Katya laughed.
It was all he could manage, really.
He was tired. His head was still spinning, and he needed to see his parents.
Staying here with Sergei was bound to make him as insane as the man who was offering him a marriage when he was already married. Hell, when they were both married, even if Yaroslav’s mother was long gone.
"I am not one of your cronies, Sergei," Katya reminded defiantly.
"I know," Sergei said before adding, "But you will still sign the papers. Now. Or three minutes from now, Solnyshka."
"You’re crazy," Katya sighed.
"Maybe," the alpha said.
"Sign it," Sergei insisted, and Katya looked at him then, the feeling of discomfort creeping in.
This was not okay.
This was not normal.
This man was unhinged.
Yet as he looked at the man’s face, Katya could see he really was serious. And that scared him a little more than it should have.
Because he knew.
He knew Sergei.
He had heard the rumors. Had seen the images on Yaroslav’s computer. Watched the videos on Yaroslav’s phone.
This man never bluffed.
And it looked like Katya was his newest target.
"No," Katya said just as the hallway intercom rang with code blue calls.
"Code blue. Code blue. Cardiac ward. Code blue. Doctor Belova to the cardiac ward. Code blue."
Katya stiffened.
His mother was in the cardiac ward. The same one they were unable to pay for. The one that could save or ruin her life.
His mother.
"Sign the papers, Solnyshka."
"No. Never," Katya insisted as he struggled to get out of the bed.
Sergei laughed mockingly at the sight, not giving Katya room to leave.
"Oh, Solnyshka. That code blue you’re hearing? That’s your mother," Sergei said coldly, the look on his face reminding Katya that the omega had not many options lined up.
"You... you don’t know that," Katya retorted quietly.
Sergei watched him as he stiffened.
"S—" Sergei began, but Katya’s phone rang.
His father was calling.
Shakily, Katya picked up the feeling of Sergei’s eyes on him, scaring him even more.
"Papa..."
"Hurry, son...your mother... she... code blue," Mr. Romanov breathed before the phone went silent. And Katya could hear the beeps and rush in the background.
His mother...
Katya stared at the phone, then turned to Sergei.
"Now, be a good boy and sign the damn papers so I can go save her."
