Chapter 283: So Why Should I Trust You Still?

* Author comes waving a white flag... remember this, y’all

* Please lmfao

[FROLO]

With Katya gone to Alek, Yaroslav looked around the room, scanning it as if looking for threats that they needed to eliminate. It was as if he knew something was going on, something that they needed to act fast on.

Something that would change their lives.

He knew it was suspicious how his father had stayed at the expo, the same expo he was not supposed to be attending.

His father never attended these, and with the controversy out there, it had been suspicious enough for Yaroslav when he received the call from Volkov that his father was at the expo.

Maybe it was a faux call.

Maybe it was something else altogether, but the news cycle in Frolo hadn’t exactly been kinder to the company. Yaroslav had been following it all, and his conclusion was Aleksandr.

The senator whom everyone loved and who had made a bold choice to attend the expo. The senator who had been having the roughest week because of his association with the bratva.

That was why Yaroslav had come to the expo.

That was why he had paused his torture of Milan to come to this day.

That was why he had stepped out of his pitiful husband state and cleaned up.

Because if the senator was compromised, then Katya was in danger. If the senator was a sellout, then the man he had sworn to protect was not going to be having a good day anytime soon.

"Father, I think the bratva sent the senator on a mission here," Yaroslav said suddenly as he watched Katya and Alek interact. Katya looked happy, genuinely happy, and that was stinging for Yaroslav.

But Yaroslav had made a promise:

To keep Katya safe even from a distance. To respect Katya’s relationship because, after everything Katya had gone through, Yaroslav believed Katya deserved a shot at happiness.

And he was here to make sure that worked.

"Yes, they did," Sergei said calmly, unfazed by the realization, before looking in the direction of the senator, where his son was still staring.

Anyone who looked at them and followed their eyes could see that there was trouble somewhere, and it was related to the senator.

Then again, it shouldn’t have been surprising at this point, right?

The senator hadn’t been on good terms with any of the Moskowskys for a while now. Even so, this felt different. Like bait, like they were trying to figure out what to do with the senator who was here.

"It relates to Katya," Yaroslav said worriedly.

He had been studying the patterns and the way Alek was acting today, and he didn’t like it one bit.

Everything else was okay, save for the way the senator was responding to an expo he had come to willingly. It wasn’t like the Moskowskys had asked him to come. He volunteered because he was the senator.

"I know," Sergei said simply, as if he wasn’t even surprised that this was happening. Like it wasn’t that hard to read the bullshit off Alek’s face, and it was something else altogether.

"Wait... you know? Is that why you want to launch the prototype today?" Yaroslav asked, turning to his father as the man knew better than to make such decisions.

Of course, the father he had known over the years was never slow to think, and Yaroslav knew his father had other motives.

It was the only way he could let Alek that close, but Yaroslav didn’t understand what it was that was so important that his father would let the senator come that close to Katya.

"No. That was a test for the chairman," Sergei said, as if he suddenly didn’t trust Katya. Like, suddenly the world was showing him a different perspective.

Then again, it was way better than admitting to Yaroslav that the prototype conversation was the only way out of a conversation that could have revealed the father’s relationship with his ex-husband.

Besides, Katya was competent. Sergei never doubted it.

But what the fuck was he to say to Yaro?

That he was in love with Katya and was wondering what Katya smelled like, even now in a room filled with investors, the press, researchers, and even his son? It wasn’t worth it, not when it would make Katya’s day hard.

Sergei didn’t want Katya to worry about anything anymore.

"A test? What the fuck, Father? You don’t trust him? After he’s worked here for three years in the same position?" Yaroslav asked in disbelief, and Sergei held back the urge to roll his eyes at his son.

Then again, he had to keep the cover going because he had noticed Katya’s jealousy.

His Solnyshka was only starting to be comfortable with expressing himself around Sergei. And Sergei would be damned if the good day was going to be ruined by his son’s constant poking.

He only wanted to sit in a corner and remember the face Katya was making when he was jealous. How Katya was looking for a nonexistent woman, as he wanted to give the woman a piece of his mind.

It was the most beautiful sight Sergei had seen since morning, because it only meant that Katya cared for him.

That Katya was jealous because of him.

That Katya didn’t want to share him with anyone.

That was an answered prayer, and Sergei would be damned if he let his son ruin that for him.

But then again, he had to think and give his son an answer. One that didn’t reveal just how happy he was that Katya was comfortable around him.

Gods, he loved his Solnyshka so much.

"Careful, boy. Keep an eye on the senator and anything he touches or does today," Sergei said flatly before going to talk to other investors.

"Little rose, I need to use the bathroom. I’ll be back in a bit," Alek said, and Katya just smiled at him. He had nothing to worry about; besides, he still needed to figure out which woman among the investors Sergei had been referring to.

He wasn’t jealous, no.

He was just curious.

Simply curious.

"Okay, don’t think too much about the event. It’s a social event like the gala. Vladimir won’t do anything to you here," Katya said in reassurance.

Then Alek began walking toward the elevator, while Katya looked around the room for someone, anyone.

Maybe he was being jealous for real, but that was an over assumption, no?

Then again, before Katya could find the woman, before Alek could even reach the elevator, everything changed.

Suddenly, all phones in the room chimed at the same time, and Yaro looked at his father’s disappearing figure.

The message on the phones was the same.

It was a video of Katya... and Kenzo talking about how to infiltrate Moskowsky and bring it down.

The date on the video?

Four years ago.

When Katya was still married to Yaroslav.

When Katya was still a researcher at Knox Tech.

Katya Romanov was branded a traitor to the devil.

And Alek’s phone chimed in the confusion that filtered through the room.

"I told you to leave in an hour. If this gets back to us, your omega won’t have to worry about his reputation. I’ll snuff the life out of him myself. And you will watch."

And Alek turned to find Katya.

But the first set of eyes he met...

Yaroslav Gamov Moskowsky, looking at him like he was calculating burial costs.

As if that wasn’t already bad enough...

There was an explosion...

From Katya Romanov’s office.

And Sergei?

"Bring. Me. Romanov!!" the alpha raged.