Chapter 42: You... You Drive Me Crazy
[SERGEI]
That night, the guards recognized him and moved out of his way. They didn’t question him, even when they saw him go to Katya’s bedroom. And they didn’t say a word to Anya.
Not on the first night.
And certainly not during the fourteen nights that Sergei had come over to watch over Katya. It was like the man was not trying to cause trouble, but what trouble was he causing when, technically, he had forced the omega into a contract?
"My beautiful Solnyshka," Sergei would whisper on most nights, sitting by Katya’s bed, as if making sure he was safe from everyone.
There were a hundred and fourteen guards attached to Katya’s home alone.
Normal people had at least seven guards for a home as huge as this, but the compound was swarming with guards. Guards who worked in the house. Some as kitchen servants, some as gardeners.
They had learned perfectly well, but still, the number was too big for a place that small.
Yet for his Katya, anything was possible.
And Sergei was thankful that Anya understood that.
"Forgive me," Sergei would beg desperately on most nights, when he breathed Katya’s citrus scent too deeply, and he looked like a maniac who had gotten his greatest addiction.
He would stare at the omega sleeping and wonder what the moon goddess was on when she created such a beautiful omega. He would stare like Katya was the beginning and the end of him.
And whenever Katya turned, Sergei wouldn’t leave.
Because he knew Katya took sleeping pills at night.
It was something Sergei despised, because a part of him knew that he was the reason for all that. That it was his fault that Katya relied on sleeping pills in a place that was meant to be home and safe for him.
It wasn’t easy, Sergei acknowledged that much, but he hoped that it would get better.
He dared to imagine that things would be well with Katya, when in truth, he was painstakingly aware that as long as he was right there in Katya’s life, the omega would always be skeptical of everything.
The omega would never breathe easily.
And on some days, Sergei felt like a dick for being selfish with Katya. For wanting him for himself.
But some days, on days when the big bad alpha cried softly while the omega slept soundly, days when Sergei begged for forgiveness like it was the only thing he was damning himself to—
...He was thankful that Katya was in his mansion instead of being with Yaroslav.
Because Sergei wasn’t sure what he would do anymore if his omega went back to his husband.
And that was the most terrifying of things.
"It’s just a normal interaction," Sergei would tell himself when he walked out of Katya’s home at a quarter past five o’clock in the morning.
He knew it was around that time that his Solnyshka woke up. He knew Katya would wake up, and then his alarm would ring fifteen minutes later. He had learned the omega’s schedule, and he remembered it by heart.
"Sir, he is not eating," a guard said one night when Sergei had come to check on Katya.
That was around three days ago.
Sergei had been too worn out, but he had still come.
For his Solnyshka, he would always come, even if it meant not sleeping. The omega was worth every bit of pain that Sergei went through anyway.
"What do you mean he is not eating?" Sergei had asked, clearly not understanding how that was even possible.
"Do you not know how to cook? Are you rationing food for my omega, warrior?" Sergei asked.
The man was appalled, unsure of how to explain. But one thing he was sure of was the fact that an explanation would give him his life and the lives of so many people.
"No... not like that, sir," the guard said before adding;
"He only ever drinks water. We set up the table, as Miss Anya directed, but he never eats. Not even when his friends are around. He just watches the food and says things as he ate before coming home, or he doesn’t have an appetite.
"But his condition is worsening. If he doesn’t eat well, he might get sick," the guard had explained.
Sergei felt his world tilt at the realization.
At how his omega was making himself small.
How his Katya was trying to not take up space because all this was just a contract for him. And Sergei felt like the real devil for everything he had done, but then it was nothing special.
He had been feeling stupid and cruel for the past three weeks anyway.
"Have you notified Anya?" Sergei had asked.
"Yes. But she says that some things can’t be forced, and that we need to let him adapt," the guard said.
In that moment, Sergei knew.
He knew that Anya not reacting wasn’t because she didn’t care for Katya. He knew that Anya was aware that he was always coming by. That he spent his nights hovering around the house like a possessed ghost.
Perhaps it had been stupid for him to pack up and leave, especially if Anya knew him that well. Because if Sergei was being honest, Anya had expected his actions.
She definitely knew that he would hover around Katya for as long as he lived.
Then again, Sergei had tried to make himself believe that he would leave. But what was the point when he couldn’t even think when all his head was filled with his Solnyshka?
"Tell him when he wakes up... tell him that he has inspections to do. I don’t care if you have to drive him beyond the city. Just make sure to make him eat, or you will be dead. All of you.
"...For starving my beloved," Sergei had warned, even though a part of him knew that they had nothing to do with the chaos.
He knew that all of this was his fault. But would it help anyone if he acknowledged the fact that things were a bit hectic, too?
Still, Sergei never dared to show his face at the company.
The two days that followed the reports had changed.
Katya was eating, but just enough to sustain him through the journey.
So, his orders had become consistent.
"Drive further. Longer."
"I don’t care if you have to drive across the country."
"Make sure he eats."
And Katya...
He ate.
Still took sleeping pills when he went to bed.
Still strived to make himself small.
Last night, as Sergei was watching over Katya, he heard him whimper in his sleep. He heard him beg for mercy.
"Please don’t..."
"I won’t say a word of the contract to Yaro."
"I’ll be better."
"Take my heart then."
"Mine is much healthier because I’m younger than Mama."
Sergei hadn’t moved.
Hadn’t breathed.
Only stepped out at the usual time because he knew the alarm was too close to ringing.
And for the first time since he left to keep his distance and failed, Sergei knew he was done staying away.
He would fix things.
Maybe that was why when he left Katya’s residence, the alpha didn’t go back to his penthouse. He didn’t go to Anya’s.
Sergei went straight to the company.
Took a shower in his private space, cleaned up, and readied himself for the day.
He knew Katya would come in.
He knew Katya would have a forced smile on his face, and while that was one of the many things that shattered Sergei’s heart for his omega, this time, he would be close. He would make things right.
Well... that was the plan.
Until Sergei walked into his office and saw the glass partition in his huge office.
Until he saw the frosting on the glass, disabled, and the glass separator was clear as day.
Until he tried to reach Anya, only to find her way too busy that he didn’t ever bother asking questions.
It was supposed to be normal, after all, change was expected in life, no?
Then Katya walked in.
Wearing white.
And Sergei... for all his composure and determination to fix things and make Katya’s life easy, snapped.
He had intended to just stare and mind his business while he sat in Katya’s chair and waited for him.
Hell, he had intended to say good morning like a civil person.
But then it all went out the moment he saw that Katya wasn’t wearing anything underneath the blazer.
And instead of good morning...
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU FUCKING WEARING?"
Was all Sergei had managed.
