Contract Marriage: Married to My Ex-Husband's Alpha Stepfather [BL] Chapter 68: We Keep This Love In A Photograph

[KATYA]

Katya had not thought about what would happen the first ti he t Yaroslav again. He had never had to think of it because most of his ti was spent trying to survive Sergei Moskowsky.

He had never imagined that the day would co.

Or maybe he had expected it...

But not like this.

Maybe in a more controlled space, not in the man’s company while he sat in the chairman’s seat. It was sothing that had Katya thinking about so many things because, for the life of him, he couldn’t see anything that should have encouraged that.

But then it happened, and Katya wasn’t sure what to make of it.

He was pissed.

At everything Yaroslav had done. All that lingered ever so closely on them because Yaroslav had been an ass to him, and then ca back acting like they were all fine. That was the kind of hair that had him wondering what had happened.

Not because he cared about Yaroslav but because the Moskowsky household was a war zone and Katya needed to be ready.

Even if it was for retaliation by the man he still loved.

He hated himself for that.

Gods, he did, because nothing had prepared him for the way that thing turned out, and now, he has to think. Fast.

"Sir, we’re ready now," Rahim said as he stopped the car rush beside Katya. The oga had been waiting because, after the eting, there were still things that Volkov and Rahim had to do, and they needed to be done as soon as possible.

"Alright, let’s go," Katya said, turning to get into the car, however when Rahim pulled the door open for him, Katya couldn’t help but hear gasps in the stance.

So, he turned to see the source.

And there was the man, he was not ready to see, even if his heart still beat for the darn man.

Oh, how hearts were very little treacherous things.

"What?" Katya mumbled when he saw Yaroslav looking so pissed and staring right into his eyes.

It was the sa look the man had given him at the hospital weeks ago, and Katya hated that he rembered it. However, Yaroslav didn’t stop glaring at him. If anything, they held each other’s gaze until Yaroslav walked past Katya like the oga was in trouble.

But does Katya always have trouble with the Moskowsky?

Wasn’t that how he got to this point?

Oh, he was confused, but maybe there was never going to be anything normal between them.

Perhaps Sergei had Yaroslav stay because she wanted to talk about Katya.

But at the sa ti, it made no sense.

Sergei saw Katya as his property; Anya had always reminded Katya of that every chance she got.

But now it was like there was a different storm coming.

One that even Katya wouldn’t be able to find his way through as fast as she wanted to.

Maybe it was what insanity looked like, but what was counting?

"Sir?" Rahim asked, and Katya sighed softly before he got in.

He knew that sothing had happened. So that would have him et Yaroslav again.

Hell, he wasn’t sure he was ready. He didn’t know how to be ready for the man who betrayed him and wasn’t even the least apologetic bit about it.

The seating arrangent at the company earlier? That had certainly been deliberate, and it haunted Katya because life was supposed to be that hard for a simple man like him. But he and we got what he always wanted, now or did he?

"Rahim..." Katy asked as they drove back to Moskowsky holdings.

"Sir..."

"What is the property value for the one on the 13th Erald?" Katya asked passively as he stared out the window.

He could see the posters in the city that shunned Yaroslav and his cheating.

How everybody already knew the Moskowsky heir was nothing but a bastard.

And Katya knew that retribution was coming.

Yaroslav was a proud man, just like his father.

He would never forgive, and the fact that he had held Katya’s eyes and passed like nothing was all that Katya needed to know that nothing was ever going to be easy for him in the Moskowsky household.

He was dood, and no one would try to make it easier for him.

Maybe it was stupid for Svet to go after the beta and Sergei, but soone had to make the tough choices. Soone had to be the reasonable one and do what needed to be done.

Svet had done just that.

"Seven hundred million, sir," Rahim said, reminding Katya that he was about to get into the most dangerous of engagents with the one man who didn’t have much to lose.

That too in a city that feared and shunned him but would never truly fight back if ever Yaroslav decided to fight them for real.

"Okay," Katya said as he kept staring out the window, feeling terrible for everyone, including his parents.

He had seen their phone calls but never answered.

Not once, even to tell them that he was okay.

Besides, what was he supposed to say to his father? That Sergei may have shot Yaroslav at the hospital because of him? That the cheating was not a publicity stunt by the Moskowsky Group, and that it was a real thing?

Was he supposed to say to them that he was okay when even he didn’t know what certainty ant anymore? Was he to act like the world was pale sunshine and unicorns when there was war looming?

Katya knew his father would price that shit together.

Mr. Romanov would know.

He would understand it was your fault, and then more chaos would stir.

Maybe that was why Katya had intentionally avoided their calls. Accepting the calls ant admitting to his parents that he was a prisoner to Sergei, even if he would try to use better and more colorful words.

It ant his father confirming what he had suspected before, that his son was in so much pain and had really been triggered in the worst of ways.

It ant admitting to his mother that the marriage that had always been so happy had turned out to be a sham, and he didn’t know what to do.

Because even in all that, Katya still loved Yaroslav.

It was hard how things were.

Katya wanted to forget Yaroslav, but love didn’t just fade instantly. That was the irony of it all, which made it all even more depressing.

Maybe Katya would stay away longer.

Just enough until he found the words to use to talk to his parents. And like each day, he was not picking up their calls, Katya hoped they were okay and that they took this as Katya wanting space.

But what parent would just stand by and watch their only child suffering?

It was a long bargain, but Katya had to try.

"Sir... Where to? You didn’t say..." Rahim pointed out that when she had been driving for too long, Katya hadn’t once said anything.

"The subway cafe on Elven Street."

"Okay, sir," Rahim said, oblivious to the ache that was ruining Katya’s sanity.

That cafe had once been their happy palace with Yaroslav.

... and Katya’s greatest comfort zone.

Would it still feel the sa this ti?