Chapter 266: Dancing A Lonely Tune In Hell

[FROLO]

If Sergei had noticed the delayed and suddenly approved permit, he never commented on it. But Katya did, and for a moment, he wondered if this had anything to do with the choices Alek had made.

Still, he figured it was probably too soon to even think that Alek was trying to ruin Moskowsky because of his jealousy.

But beyond the meetings the Moskowsky Group held and their approval, Alek knew he was in danger. He didn’t even wait for the Bratva to summon him.

He went himself to Kenzo like a man offering himself up for sacrifice. He knew that he had done something stupid and it would cost him a lot, but what the hell, right?

As long as Katya was happy.

As long as the man he loved was living a happier life, even if from a distance.

He didn’t even have time to regret.

"You approved the permit," Kenzo said the moment the alpha stepped into the old restaurant in the lower district. The walls were still the same, if not worse than the last time Alek had been here.

He had been running small errands for the Bratva for weeks, and the permit was the first major one that he had declined.

It was basically suicide, yet he was here, surrounded by men who looked like they wanted to cut his head off his shoulders.

"Yes," Alek said.

He wasn’t confident.

He wasn’t throwing it at them.

He was just telling them like there was no other option for him.

"I tried to delay it," Alek said quietly. He knew there wouldn’t ever be a defense for this. He had defied the Bratva, and they would kill him.

Well, at least Katya was happy, right?

"Yet you still approved it. Why?" Kenzo asked as he looked at Alek, who sat on the chair before him.

There was soup on the table, like they were about to eat, when Alek knew there was a very high chance this soup was poisoned and he was about to be murdered. Gods, what had he gotten himself into this time?

Since when had life gotten this complicated and desperate that he was not even sure where he stood with his facts anymore? But then Alek knew there was no easy way out of this. He had long learned the histories of the Bratva.

The only way to leave was to die.

Did Alek want to die, though?

"Because it would look suspicious... Moskowsky has always done their work right. The company has never had any discrepancies.

"To deny them a permit for the first time, especially after the scandal between Mr. Moskowsky and me, would change the public perception... on me," Alek said,.

Kenzo laughed.

Before he smacked the senator hard across the face so that Alek’s lip tore.

"Your public perception means shit to me, Aleksandr," Kenzo said as he grabbed Alek by the shirt and wiped his hand on Alek’s shirt, not even caring that the alpha was choking at some point in that interaction.

The alpha didn’t even hold his burning cheek that already had the handprint of that one man.

He had done this to himself... for Katya.

Maybe that was an easy way to die, but what the hell, right?

"I apologize," Alek said in earnest.

"You disobeyed the simplest order you’ve been given since you volunteered as our errand boy," Kenzo said disappointedly.

It was like he had expected way better from a senator who was so highly spoken of by the people than what he had gotten.

Oh, how he had been sorely mistaken and was clearly already regretting his decision with the man.

"I can make it right," Alek volunteered before adding, "Please don’t go after Katya."

And Kenzo...

He laughed.

Not even mockingly.

He laughed at the alpha pitifully, like he knew something that the alpha before him did not know. Like he knew far more than the senator had agreed to indulge, and it was something else altogether.

Maybe they were crazy for this, but the Bratva wasn’t exactly a charity organization, no?

"Call your little omega," Kenzo said, and Alek paused.

What the fuck was this even about?

"What?" he asked, only to get another smack on his cheek. It was just as hard and rough as the first one, and fuck if Alek didn’t feel every ounce of his dignity wither with every smack from the man.

He was a powerful senator who had been reduced to whatever the fuck this was. In Alek’s mind, it all traced back to Sergei Moskowsky.

Gods, how he hated and despised that man.

"I said... call your little omega. Or do you want me to call him?" Kenzo asked, and Alek turned shakily at the receptionist who had taken his phone earlier.

And he got up carefully to go get his phone, only to be tripped by one of the Bratva men there. The alpha fell to the floor like he was just another lowly creature who was lucky enough to be in their presence.

It was the most humiliating thing that had happened to Alek.

Yet even then, the alpha got up, didn’t even bother dusting himself up, and he went toward the receptionist, only to feel one of the men there grab him by the collar.

"You need to respect your elders, senator. This is not your Senate, where you’re powerful. In the Bratva, you are nothing," the man said, and Alek nodded, accepting his fate. What else was he supposed to do anyway?

Behind him, Kenzo laughed mockingly.

"Let him make the call. His little omega is walking to lunch with one of his friends... Andre, I think. The ex-military psycho who was in special ops," Kenzo said, and Alek froze, honestly for the first time in so long.

If Andre was with Katya, then Katya was safe.

Very safe.

Because Andre was never going to let anyone hurt his friend, not even in the slightest of ways. It should have been comfort for Alek, but then he realized just as fast that Andre wasn’t always going to be walking with Katya.

But the Bratva most definitely would be there.

Gods, he was doomed.

So, Alek looked at the receptionist with the scar on his face.

"State your request," he said coldly, like he didn’t already know what Alek was there for.

"Please... may I have my phone to make a call?" Alek asked politely, his lips trembling with both rage and humiliation.

And the receptionist...

Laughed.

As did everyone inside the restaurant.

"Look at him, an alpha reduced to an errand boy. Who would have known he had it in him?" the receptionist mocked as he grabbed Alek’s phone and gave it to him.

Defeatedly, Alek stared at his phone, contemplating for the first time if he was to call Katya or not. He knew how his voice would sound, and he was terrified that his omega would hear the worry in his voice.

But he had to make the call.

There was no other way.

So, clearing his throat, he dialed Katya.

It was honestly the hardest thing he was doing in his life because it had been almost a week since he’d heard his omega’s voice.

Gods, he was screwed.

"Make the call, senator, or your little omega dies. And put your damn thing on loudspeaker," Kenzo warned, and Alek sighed defeatedly before dialing.

Katya picked up on the first ring.

"Alek," the omega breathed.

"Little rose."