Chapter 307: Brighten The RED Neon Lights A Little More

[YAROSLAV]

The clip had been replaying over and over and over.

Yaroslav could almost speak the senator’s words letter by letter if he were ever asked to. That was how obsessively he had watched that press conference.

"I’ll kill him myself," Yaroslav laughed amusedly as he stared at the senator and what he’d said in that presser. It was as if that was the only logical solution for him because the senator had all the options and chose the worst of them all.

This wasn’t even a conference about getting Katya Romanov back.

This was a humiliation ritual by a scorned man. This was a very insecure man who didn’t understand the value of the person who loved him.

Oh, how Yaroslav could kill to be loved by Katya again, yet the senator was sitting on that love.

He would make sure the senator remembered what manners were.

After apologizing to Katya, he just as publicly humiliated Katya. That was non-negotiable for Yaroslav, and maybe it made him creepy and insane.

But wasn’t that the default that came with being a Moskowsky?

"So, you’re going to pretend your father didn’t make you sign your divorce papers and make your precious Katya sign a contract marriage?

"You should be a saint, Yaroslav, you have far too much faith in your daddy dearest," Milan laughed in the corner, the heavy silver chains making it impossible for her to even move.

The cold from the floor seeped through the polythene sheets she was sitting on.

Yaroslav had given her a busted lip and broken her spine earlier today. She was still in so much pain, but seeing the misery and confusion written on Yaroslav’s face was the one thing that kept her going through it all.

"Shut up," Yaroslav said as he threw a crowbar in her direction, the tool stopping a few inches from her feet.

"Your father divorced you. No matter how much you torture me to make yourself feel better about being baited, there is nothing you can do about it. I’m betting the senator is saying the truth, too.

"He didn’t have a reason to lie in front of anyone. Besides, the senator loves Katya. If you ask me, exposing your crazy father like that is a better way to deal with that shit," Milan said.

Yaroslav had just had about enough of the woman yapping. So, in his rage, he grabbed an empty beer bottle and rushed over to where Milan was.

"You know nothing about my father!!!!" Yaroslav raged before slamming the bottle against Milan’s bald head. Then he hit her head on the wall a few times, knocking the woman unconscious.

He could see her bleeding, but that didn’t matter to him.

Not right now.

Not when his mind was filled with suspicions about his father for the very first time. And Yaroslav hated that feeling.

His father was sacred.

His father was not to be spoken about like that.

His father always had a reason for whatever the fuck he did.

So why the fuck did he divorce them?

Why the fuck did Sergei force Katya to sign a contract marriage?

It explained the nonchalance his father had displayed when Svetlana had accused Sergei of kidnapping Katya back then. The way that Yaro had stared, confused, and enraged, when he too learned that Katya was missing. There, his father was.

At the time, he’d figured it was to protect Katya.

But his father had absolutely no reason to trust Katya that much.

Katya was his son-in-law, a man they barely interacted with, so what the fuck was the thought process for all this?

Goodness, Yaroslav was pissed.

"My father is a good man," Yaroslav cried as he sat on the floor next to a hunched-over, bleeding Milan.

He grabbed a piece of glass from the shards on the polythene and began writing that on Milan’s skin.

"My dad is a good person," Yaroslav carved on Milan’s right arm like he was never going to distrust Sergei.

Sergei loved him.

Sergei protected him.

Sergei had divorced him, he knew that.

But the circumstances proved nothing.

After all, why the fuck was he to trust Milan when the woman worked in a hospital?

Maybe the truth serum wasn’t the real deal.

Milan was yapping.

Maybe the serum was only making Milan say things because Milan hated Katya so much.

It was the only logical explanation.

Milan’s truths were warped.

Yaroslav refused to believe them.

Because believing them meant he didn’t trust his father.

Believing whatever the fuck she said would mean that his father was in the wrong.

But his father was never wrong.

His father only ever wanted the best for him.

His father loved him.

Even the city knew that.

Yet the television kept replaying the same clip over and over in the basement. It was alarming, and it had Yaroslav agitated more than he always was under these floorboards.

"I’ll prove to you that my father is a good person," Yaroslav clicked in rage, kicking Milan’s leg before he got up and climbed the stairs that led out of the basement.

There was no way he was going to believe an insecure senator who was using miscarriage as an argument for whatever the fuck that had been.

"Ivan, did you already find where Aleksandr was streaming from?" Yaroslav asked as he stopped on his way to the showers. He was still covered in Milan’s blood from their last torture session and needed to be ready for whatever was coming.

"Not yet. Also, it seems the entire thing was pre-recorded. There is nothing that suggests that it’s being streamed or was streamed today," Ivan, Yaroslav’s assistant, said as he looked at his boss.

This was not the best of days, and everyone could really understand the beta.

His father was being accused of divorcing him and marrying his ex-husband while he didn’t even know shit. That was the worst combination that he’d ever heard.

Yet at the same time, Yaroslav knew the dots connected a little too much.

His Katya hated leadership roles.

Hated the spotlight.

His Katya hated attention.

Yet barely days after his first discharge from the hospital, he was already being crowned group chairman of the largest magnate in the realm.

It was insane.

Yaroslav hadn’t challenged the appointment because even he knew Katya was a good fit for the job and that Sergei never made rash decisions.

But after the senator’s declaration, the beta was conflicted.

Yet even then, he remained determined to prove that his father was a good person.

His father may have been insane, but he wasn’t THAT insane.

There was just no fucking way.

"Bring up the feed from Katya’s appointment as Moskowsky Group chairman," Yaroslav said, his voice filled with curiosity.

"Yes, sir... Also, wasn’t that around the time Katya Romanov’s mother needed a heart surgery, and they were dead broke? Everyone knew Mr. Romanov had been drowning in debt and was being hunted by loan sharks.

"Then, suddenly, the value of Romanov Steel tripled, and Masha Romanov got a new heart within a day. I’m not saying the senator is right, but there are just too many coincidences, boss," Ivan said as he looked at Yaroslav, who had denial all over his face.

"Ivan..."

"Sir..."

"Keep my father’s name out of your mouth."

"But I didn’t—"

"My father is a good person, I’ll prove it. You get back to work," Yaroslav said before he disappeared into the showers.

Denial, oh, denial.