Chapter 257: Erase Darkness ’Til The Break Of Day

[FROLO]

The guest room was colder than it had ever been.

On the bed was the one man Katya had been staring at the entire night. He looked so pale, so hurt and broken. There were IV drips down his veins, and the sheets had been changed for the third time in the past nine hours.

It was like the whole world was moving, and Katya was just there.

Alek still hadn’t regained consciousness.

Sergei had called to check in, sent the best doctors money could buy, nurses that would probably cost Katya a whole year’s worth of his salary. But of course, Sergei hadn’t asked for anything.

He’d only said for Katya to call if he wanted to.

To text if it got hard.

Svet and Andre had come to stay with Katya, and they were right outside in his living room, occasionally coming to check in on Katya for proof of life.

Leon had only checked in in the morning, but he was busy handling PR because there was a lot to do.

Yet even then, Alek was still unconscious.

And Katya was losing his mind.

"Come back to me, please," Katya begged. It had been his prayer since Alek had been brought through his doors. He’d tried to stay strong, but somehow his tears found a way through.

Oh, he was trying to be strong, but with his boyfriend bandaged like a mummy on the bed, his hope was fading with every second. Alek looked hopeless, and Katya hated that he didn’t even know why this had happened.

"Romanov... Coffee?" Svet peeked, only to find Katya pacing again. It was all he’d been doing for hours, and he looked so tired and lost.

"No, I’m fine," Katya said, and Svet walked in, pulled him into the bathroom, something that surprised Katya.

"What are yo—"

"There’s a raging alpha who’s threatened literally everyone in the house, excluding Andre and me, that he’ll show up if he hears you haven’t eaten again. Now, on a normal day, I’d call the bluff, but that barbaric giant will show up here if you don’t eat.

"And I won’t lie to him if that’s what you’re thinking," Svet whispered, and Katya stared in defeat.

"Alek... He... He hasn’t eaten," Katya said quietly, sniffling.

He was tired.

He’d not had a proper night’s sleep, and he looked like he was one wrong step away from being unconscious for days, too.

"Do you think he’ll be happy if he wakes up and sees you like this? Tired and hungry? Looking so haggard. I love you, Romanov, but you need to eat something and clean up.

"If he wakes up, we’ll all let you know. There’s an entire screen of his vitals in the hallway with doctors looking at it, yeah?" Svet said like there really was no need for Katya wasting away.

Then again, Katya still had no answers on what had happened, and he had a feeling that asking Sergei to look into it wouldn’t exactly end peacefully.

Besides, he couldn’t ask that much of Sergei, so he had to trust that Alek would be honest with him. What were the chances, though?

"I’m fine..."

"No, you’re not. You have to get some rest, or I’ll ask those nice doctors out there to help you get some rest, and you’ll hate me for it," Svet said calmly, and Katya groaned at the accuracy.

"Fine. If he wakes up while I’m showering, you let me know," Katya said, giving in, and Svetlana hadn’t looked that happy.

"Yes, sir," Svet agreed before Katya walked out.

Andre walked in right after Katya left, smiling at his best friend as if that was all the hope Katya needed. And once Katya was gone, Andre locked the door.

Then he looked at the senator on the bed, who was still unconscious.

Or was he?

"Rise and shine, Aleksandr," Andre said, patting the pillow that Alek’s head was resting on.

"You’re terrible at faking sleep. If Romanov wasn’t sleep deprived and worried sick, he’d see through your charade," Svet added, like she was insulted.

Then she grabbed a stool and sat on it right beside Alek, whose eyes were slowly opening.

"Sve—" Alek began hoarsely, and Andre shushed him.

"Nuh uh... You don’t get to do that. Two weeks MIA, then you return looking like a ghost? Now I’m no politician, but I know when someone’s pulling my leg," Andre began as Alek’s eyes slowly opened.

He looked so disoriented, almost like he didn’t understand what Andre was talking about. He was just a good senator, right?

"Your wounds are not weeks old, senator. They are a day old. And if I were to guess right, you got them yesterday," Svet added.

"Your friend who doubles as your secretary was also giving half-assed explanations on your disappearance. Refused to give Romanov an explanation of the share transfer," Andre continued.

"What are you talking about?" Alek wondered tiredly.

"Normally, I wouldn’t be bothered by what you do in your spare time. But you had my dear friend worried sick for you. Trying to be the perfect boyfriend and giving you space," Svet added, like it was a normal conversation.

"So, I’ll ask this just once, senator..." Andre said, and Alek squinted, his body still hurting.

"If you lie, we’ll know," Svetlana reminded calmly, her eyes colder as she stared at her friend’s boyfriend.

"Why did the Kumarin Bratva take you?" Andre asked, and Svet chuckled.

"More like why he went to them voluntarily."

"What are you guys talking about? Where’s Katya?" Alek asked, and they looked at each other before bursting out laughing lowly at the senator.

It was a weird sight, really, because this was the first time the senator was dealing with Svet and Andre... Well, the versions of these two that didn’t look at him with smiles, and like he was the family they would go to war for.

"Showering so he can come back and continue being a good boyfriend," Svet said, her voice warm like she was trying her very best not to let her friend down.

"That gives us like ten minutes."

"We can’t hurt him where Romanov will notice immediately."

"He’s been bleeding all morning anyway. We can just blame it on his wounds reopening."

"Hold on, guys... What are you talking about?" Alek said, his voice suddenly clearer even as he struggled to sit up.

He knew these two had a history that no one was ready for in the city. He knew what they did and what they could do. They were just as bad as a few people he’d known over the years.

"Now would you look at that... The good senator got a voice finally," Svet chuckled lowly, her voice dark.

"The Kumarin Bratva, senator," Andre insisted.

"I don—" Alek began, and Andre looked at Svet, who pulled out a syringe with some light-yellow fluid in it. Then she got up and aimed it at the IV bag, while poking at the senator like he needed to start talking.

"Don’t worry, it won’t kill you, but since you want to bleed so badly, it will slow down your clotting function, and you will bleed. Guess where you’ll end up?" Svet whispered like she was telling him a secret.

"Aslava, where one of Romanov’s notorious friends will be waiting for you, while wearing a lab coat," Andre added softly as if it would land right.

"Wait... Wait," Senator Aleksandr said, and they looked at each other before they looked at him again.

"Great, the politician wants to speak. Fine. What is it, senator?"

"I approached the Kumarin Bratva weeks ago," Alek admitted shamefully, his head bowing like he had not just admitted to the most insane of things.

"And why in the moon goddess’s cursed earth would you approach the Bratva?" Svet asked, the needle dangling a little too close to Alek’s arm.

"Because he likes him," Alek said defeatedly.

"We only have two minutes, senator, and giving half-assed answers will do you no good once we flush the morphine out of your system," Svet warned.

"Moskowsky," Alek said.

"This man is dancing around. Push that shit in, Svetlana," Andre said, and Svet stared at the alpha on the bed excitedly before she injected the needle into the bag. She hadn’t pushed the contents in yet.

"Sergei... He likes my little rose. Hell, he loves him. And I wanted to be stronger and better. I can’t match Sergei as a good senator. I needed the Kumarin Bratva’s backing to prove my worth to Katya.

"That way he wouldn’t leave me for him," Alek sighed, making the psycho friends look at him like he was insane.

"I’m sorry, but are you mental, sir?" Svet asked right as another quiet voice interrupted them.

"What?" Katya whimpered.