Chapter 255: Yet Each Time, I’m Lost In You

[FROLO]

Sergei followed Katya into his office, not once taking off his new attire.

It was as if he was truly dedicated to being useful to Katya, and it was almost hilarious how he was smiling from ear to ear while everyone else was spent from the long hours of standing.

And when Katya plopped onto the couch, Sergei just watched him softly as he settled on the couch too, pulling Katya’s feet onto his lap and massaging them.

"You’re working too hard, Solnyshka," Sergei complained, and Katya snorted at that.

"I’m serious. Do you need more people on your team? Do you need a second floor for your researchers? Is it hard? You look so tired and beautiful," Sergei said, adding the last bit like a wounded man in a war.

He was unbelievable.

"You work longer hours than I do, and you never complain," Katya said, unbothered by how it all looked for the person who was watching them outside the glass door.

It was like the omega was a little too comfortable.

Then again, Katya knew kicking Sergei out wouldn’t work. The alpha had come here determined to root out the traitors. It wouldn’t matter if they spent a whole year on this floor; they wouldn’t leave until Sergei got his answers.

Because this wasn’t just about the way things were here.

This was about Moskowsky, too, even if Sergei refused to think of it like that. So, the best way to deal with all this was to make the man useful, even if it was just to rub his feet.

"It’s different," Sergei argued, and Katya sat up, resting his elbows on the armrest while he looked at Sergei, who was blowing air on his feet like suddenly Katya was the most delicate thing he’d ever seen.

The sight was too domestic, but it was not like there was much to do about it, no? The stubborn barbarian wasn’t about to leave on his own anyway.

"How different?" Katya challenged quietly.

"You’re the chairman, and you have a lot of work with that. And you’re still working here, and it’s a lot of work, and you’re too precious to suffer like that," Sergei said sincerely, not even looking at Katya.

It was like he was sure that was simply the truth, and there wasn’t a thing to argue about.

Gods, this man.

"The city thinks you kidnapped Alek," Katya said, and Sergei’s fingers stilled on Katya’s feet.

"Do you believe them? That the senator transferred his shares as a final act of love because I made him do it?" Sergei asked.

This time, he looked at Katya, into the omega’s eyes like they were the only thing that could either save or doom him. He didn’t even know what he was expecting at this point, really, because life was that complicated for him.

Maybe he needed to try and think of better days, but it was getting a little harder with the way things were going. There was no guarantee for what could happen tomorrow, and Sergei was painfully aware of that, too.

"No, it’s absurd," Katya said, and Sergei’s eyes didn’t change.

"Maybe you’re biased because you feel something for me," Sergei mumbled like he was trying his very best not to be what the city was making him out to be.

"Not really. I’ve been around you enough to know you’d never lie to me. Besides, if it were you, you’d have a more compelling reason than just rivalry for love. You’re too intelligent and calculated to risk shit for emotions," Katya said confidently.

And Sergei could swear his own heart had found a whole different rhythm in the past three seconds.

Katya trusted him.

Katya believed him.

Katya knew him.

For the first time in his life, Sergei wanted to jump, shout, and scream in joy, but he couldn’t.

Not without creeping Katya out.

His omega had just called him intelligent.

Of course, Sergei was always intelligent. He knew it always. But to hear it as a basis of trust from Katya made him feel some type of way. It was like he was seeing the whole version of his life, and the universe was finally smiling down on him.

"You... You think I’d never lie to you? That’s a little too confident, don’t you think?" Sergei trailed off, looking everywhere but at Katya’s face, suddenly.

"Maybe it is naive too, but I trusted you long before I understood why being around you felt different," Katya said casually, and Sergei bolted up like he suddenly didn’t trust himself to sit and function properly with Katya in the same room.

He looked like he was about to lose his last functioning brain cell, which was hilarious, seeing as he was losing control over the things that Katya was saying to him.

"You can’t just... You can’t just say that here when the whole city thinks I am the reason your boyfriend is gone," Sergei said, pacing inside Katya’s office.

And the omega just watched the most powerful man unravel because of what was already obvious between them.

"I know it was Alonso and Luca who leaked the footage to the press for some reason. But don’t act like you don’t know why I said yes," Katya said simply, returning Sergei’s words from the bathroom at the gala weeks ago to him.

And Sergei paused.

Actually stilled where he was.

He looked like he had just finally realized constipation was a thing and a part of life because, Gods, the look on his face was constipated as fuck.

He looked like he was stuck between being happy that his omega loved him and trusted him, a truth he knew, and being intrigued that Katya had figured out the moles on his own team by himself.

That was some impressive thing the omega had done, and even Sergei couldn’t deny it.

But what reaction was he supposed to show?

Excitement?

Pride?

Hopeless love?

Sergei Moskowsky didn’t know what to do or say other than stand there awkwardly like the world was playing the stupidest of games with him.

But fuck, it was something else hearing Katya say those four words.

Sergei would never forget them.

Ever.

"That... we... we were talking about the city," Sergei forced out like he was reminding his brain to stay focused.

He couldn’t trust himself to think clearly, though. He couldn’t even be blamed for it because right now, his alpha was yearning to get closer to Katya.

If Sergei focused on the omega a little more, he knew he would lose control and scare Katya.

He couldn’t afford that.

It was too risky.

"Leon said Alek left a few days ago on his own. If he were kidnapped, he would have told Leon to trigger his failsafe.

"I may not know where he is right now, but I know you had nothing to do with his disappearance," Katya said amusedly, like that was the only way to reset Sergei.

The alpha was definitely on his way to losing his mind at this rate.

"So, you believe Leon?" Sergei asked, sitting in Katya’s chair, not trusting himself to stay in control if he went to sit on the couch beside Katya.

It was too dangerous this time.

For both of them.

"Not really. He wasn’t ready to give me that information. I believe there is more to it, but I’ll wait a few days before I go back and ask again.

"If Alek isn’t back in the next three days, I might have to use Moskowsky resources to find him. I hope that won’t be a problem," Katya said calmly, and Sergei had gotten lost again.

So, the alpha just nodded.

Like a man who was trying to learn how not to be nonverbal and was failing spectacularly.

"Great. Let’s get back to the lab, shall we?"