Chapter 78: This Time Someone Please, Come Save Me
[KATYA]
Disgust was an understatement of what Katya felt at the moment. Hell, it wasn’t even disgusting enough; this was more than insane, if Katya had to put a word for it. Even the scales had been tipped far.
When one of the servants had called Katya and told him his parents had come and that Sergei wanted to meet with them in the lounge, Katya knew he was a dead man.
His parents being in close proximity with the man who had made it his mission to remind Katya that he was disposable and worth nothing was just not what Katya had imagined.
He had been told that the barbarian looked very angry today, and Katya could only attribute it to the missed day.
But damn, the fact that the man had summoned his parents? That scared him.
Then Katya saw his mother smiling. Masha Romanov, the woman who was always apprehensive of everyone and everything, was smiling.
At first, Katya wanted to think it was because she didn’t want her heart taken or something, seeing as the Romanovs weren’t exactly dumb to think of how everything had gotten a little too convenient with Sergei.
But to hear Sergei laugh with them?
To see Sergei relax with them?
It was disgusting.
Maybe because, here and now, Katya didn’t see Yaroslav’s father.
He didn’t see the barbarian who had forced him into a contract marriage.
Hell, he didn’t see any traces of a Moskowsky.
Katya saw a father-in-law talking to his parents.
And it was absolutely disgusting.
Then again, Katya had always known Sergei Moskowsky to be a man of many faces. He just didn’t know the man was capable of pulling the father-in-law face. What the heck?
"Michka, you’re here already," Masha Romanova said as she got up to hug her son, who was so stiff that he was waiting for Sergei to say something.
Threaten him.
Do whatever wicked thing the devil of Frolo was capable of.
He was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it was not something that Katya took pride in.
But then, this was Sergei.
Sergei Moskowsky.
"Mama... why are you here?" Katya asked as he greeted his father, who was seated and facing Sergei.
The men seemed to be communicating in their own way, and with the way Mr. Romanov was staring at Sergei, you would think that he was deciding whether to call Andre to carry the man’s body or if he wanted to do it himself.
"Oh, Michka... You left me at the hospital, and we thought something had happened to you. Svet and Andre gave us this address. And Miss Anya gave us the access," Masha said, and Katya stared softly at his mother.
He knew that he had to come up with a good reason, but a part of him hoped that the scandal with Yaroslav cheating was good enough an excuse. He hoped they wouldn’t press a little hard because he honestly didn’t have any proper explanation.
Not right now.
Not with Sergei here and certainly not with the way Katya was trying so hard not to panic.
"Sorry, mama... Got an unexpected promotion at work," Katya said as her mother guided him to sit beside her.
His father was still watching.
Eyes fixed on his son like he was trying to read him. He always knew it was the only way to get Katya talking without having to ask intrusive questions that his son would avoid.
"You didn’t need to come this far, mama. I’m fine," Katya said the moment he sat down, avoiding eye contact with Sergei, who was staring him bored while still managing a smile that creeps Katya the fuck out.
"Good of you to join us," Sergei said. His tone was a little too calm for Katya’s liking. It didn’t hold the weight it had when Sergei had come into his hospital room and made demands like the barbarian he was.
Granted, Katya hadn’t exactly heard Sergei talk much to him after that, but the man had left him scarred and scared with his minions.
"Have a seat, Gamov," Sergei added ever so simply; it was nauseating.
Katya choked on air.
Gamov??
Was that who he was now?
Katya Gamov?
Oh, this cruel man.
"Michka, you alright?" Mr. Romanovs asked as he looked at his son, who was being tended to by his mother.
"Yes, Papa. I’ve just been busy with work. I planned on coming home, but everything has just been busy," Katya said softly, trying his very best not to spook his parents because there was no telling what the Romanovs would do.
Katya wanted trouble with the devil, who was smiling with his parents like all of this was okay.
It wasn’t.
It would never be, and maybe the sooner Sergei understood that, the better it would be for everyone, right?
"Anyway, we are here now. Did Yaroslav cheat on you? How true are the accusations, Michka? Do you still want to stay here?" Masha asked as she looked at her son, who was holding himself together.
She looked at Katya like she was staring and waiting for a sign.
But would Katya give it?
"If it is overwhelming, come home with us," Mr. Romanov stated.
He didn’t offer. Didn’t try to reason.
He simply told his child that home was always going to be there.
And Katya stared at the barbarian who was listening.
Sergei was looking at him.
Their eyes met in the kind of way that Katya hadn’t expected.
There was certainty in those eyes, the kind that scared the hell out of Katya, and the omega felt his breath hitch ever as Sergei held his eyes like a predator. Like he was telling Katya to pick a side and see what would happen.
The soft hum of the television in the background was the only thing keeping Katya steady, until a sentence that had Katya freezing and wanting to disappear in that moment.
"Turn that up," Mr. Romanov suddenly said while waiting for his son’s answer, and Katya reached for the remote, only for Sergei to beat him to it.
Who was this man, and where the fuck was the barbarian who wanted to kill him slowly?
On the screen, there wasn’t much to expect, really.
It was another breakfast segment with Senator Aleksandr. The man was a well-loved politician in the city and usually pushed for reforms that made him lovable and had opinions that made people relate to him.
That and the fact that he was handsome.
Today, they were talking about something else, though, and that had everyone in the lounge interested.
But Katya...
He wanted to disappear.
"The ongoing Gamov scandal is something else. How could he cheat on an omega as pretty as Chairman Gamov?" Senator Aleksandr said during their break from the political discussion.
It was nothing new, especially with Sierra, the host. It was almost what made the breakfast segment something that many people looked forward to. She was good at her job, that much everyone knew.
But today?
Katya wished he could go in there and turn that shit off.
Yet Sergei held onto the remote like there was more to this. And the Romanovs stared silently, suddenly invested, and unaware that their son was so close to making a run through the door and never looking back.
This was not going to end well, and certainly not when his jailer was here with them.
Fuck.
"...if someone has Chairman Gamov to go home to and still chooses to look at someone else, and embarrass the chairman this publicly, then I fear money is certainly not the problem there."
