Chapter 229: Half My Heart Is Stone, Dearest

[FROLO]

The Romanov camp tried to get through to Yaroslav, but it was pointless. Not even their calls for peace in the courtroom, for the session to be over, were heard. And of course, some looked at Katya as if to ask him why he was not doing anything.

But Katya was numb, staring at the first row on the left, like he had seen something there. Like he was still wondering about so many things.

The row not only had some journalists who had come to see the chaos, but before that, Milan and Yaroslav had sat there.

Milan and Yaroslav.

Gods, it was exhausting to say the least.

"Katya," Svet called quietly, but she got no response as her friend’s eyes stayed rooted to the bench in the first row.

They both watched as Milan walked back to her seat like she was done playing advocate for a man who was already so determined to ruin the day. But was that what this was for them both?

Still, she had tried her best...

And failed.

She was breathing heavily as her hands shook while her eyes stayed on her baby daddy, who was fighting off marshals while strangling the surgeon.

Somewhere along the way, he had even turned to the professor and the darn therapist whom he had smacked on the neck one too many times in the past five minutes. This was a circus she was watching, and it was tiring.

Katya’s eyes didn’t shift even when Milan took her seat. Instead, they stayed on her, like he was studying something. Like he had his thinking cap on, and Svet noticed too.

The way Katya’s eyes had stayed on Milan.

The way that none of this was making sense to the omega. Admittedly, it wasn’t that hard to assume. The professor had spoken earlier while looking in the direction of Yaroslav and Milan.

Maybe it was that far a stretch, perhaps because Yaroslav was fighting the doctors, but damn was it an accusation that could doom so many lives if true.

What would the benefits be, though?

"Separate them! Take the witnesses downstairs!" an exhausted court marshal shouted while the medics apologized, save for the surgeon, who didn’t give two shits about the trial as of this moment.

"Don’t touch me," the professor complained as the marshals walked him away.

"I didn’t mean to," the therapist cried, her eyes swollen and her tears falling on her grey jumpsuit, but Yaroslav didn’t care. These people had hurt his beloved.

"Get him away from me!" the surgeon said again, and the marshals looked at him like they were really considering letting the man suffer in Yaroslav’s hands a little longer.

He deserved it after the atrocities he had admitted to anyway.

Thankfully, Yaroslav finally let go when the medics were forced through different exits separately.

He was still seething, though, so much so that he went back to his seat, almost like he didn’t want to sit beside Katya when he was that unstable, like he didn’t want to burden Katya with the pain of seeing him like that.

"They took our life," Yaroslav sighed in rage as he plopped onto his seat.

Milan, who was now beside him, reached for his arm, but he just jerked it away like Milan’s touch was poisonous to him. Like he didn’t even want to look at the woman he had cheated with and claimed before the entire Frolo.

Of course, outside, the entire Frolo had staged protests.

Some peaceful, demanding justice for Katya, which was quite the irony for a city that had spent the last seven years mocking Katya. While others were violent enough to go to the private practices of the doctors and tear down their establishments.

Frolo was burning, and this time Sergei wasn’t even the one with the matchstick.

The realm had its own.

The city had chosen its side.

Damn.

"Yaro," Milan tried.

Yaroslav didn’t pay her any attention, so she lowered her head, hoping that her submission would change the beta’s mind.

It didn’t.

Katya noticed that, too, the way Milan was trying to get Yaroslav’s attention.

But he said nothing.

Not even when people were surrounding him, like they wanted to have more answers. Then again, one look from the Romanov camp was enough to keep them three feet away from the omega of the hour.

And Katya, he didn’t even care about any of that. He still had questions. So many questions.

Funny how he had believed that this would be done by noon.

It was three o’clock in the evening. They hadn’t even gotten the joint testimonies. Goodness, they would be doomed at this rate, but weren’t they already doomed anyway?

Fifteen minutes later, the court was not so calm yet.

If anything, it had gotten worse than earlier.

The only difference right now was that many people had crammed inside, and the reporters were trying to even find space to breathe. It was crazy as hell, and the judges hadn’t even come back for the court session.

Outside the courthouse, there were still endless live streams and phones that hadn’t stopped ringing since the break. Everyone was waiting.

Waiting to see and hear what was coming next from the defendants who had been beaten by Yaroslav. Maybe at the end of this, the courts would hold him in contempt, but no one was sure of much at the moment anyway.

One thing was obvious both within and outside the courthouse.

Security had been doubled, especially after the Yaroslav altercation. It was a bit hilarious, though, the additional security outside, as if Yaroslav was about to step out of the courthouse and come to fight everyone.

They couldn’t put it past him, but maybe that was still a far stretch at the moment.

Meanwhile, Milan had felt Katya’s eyes on him for a while now, and when she turned, their eyes met, for a brief second because Milan looked away first, while Katya didn’t even stop.

And then...

The courtroom doors opened again.

The judges were back.

"All rise," a court officer said.