Chapter 365: Restraint Was Never Their Forte

[FROLO]

Yaroslav Moskowsky stared at the screen, a sheepish smile on his face, creeping out everyone in the room.

Everyone, including Rastenkin and Anya.

No one made a sound, worried that they’d say the wrong thing. That they’d be the reason a father-son war erupted here.

Even Svetlana, who was usually mouthy, had stayed deadly quiet, staring silently like she was readying herself for anything.

She and Andre knew what this looked like, but then they would not stand by and watch if Katya was Yaroslav’s target. That was the one thing Yaroslav should have known too.

But why the fuck was everyone wary of the man who was smiling at the screen like he liked what he was seeing?

"The last time I saw someone smile like that, I was ordered to annihilate an entire organization," Rastenkin whispered, earning a smack on the arm from Anya.

"What... Someone has to talk to him, and it’s not going to be me this time. I love my life," Rastenkin whispered as the images of a clearly fucked Katya came from the fashion house.

Katya bore Sergei’s mark.

It was there for everyone to see.

For everyone to understand that the omega had an alpha.

Was loved and cherished because it was the only way to explain Katya’s unbothered attitude and Sergei’s clear worship of the omega.

"Great. Throw me to the beasts; why don’t you?" Anya grumbled lowly, and everyone looked at her like they were silently praying that she translated this for them. Maybe it was what life had become for them.

Maybe it was the way things had changed.

Maybe.

But she was more humane than them, even when she was just as dangerous, if not more, than them.

"Young Gamov," Anya voiced as she stepped forward to Yaroslav.

The smile on Yaroslav’s face didn’t fall.

"He’s just like he was with Papa," Yaroslav said dreamily.

Oh, but Anya could swear she didn’t understand what the fuck Yaroslav meant by that.

"Huh?" Anya asked, surprised.

"Father always loves loudly and proudly. He’s so bright right now, he’s glowing... I think wherever Papa’s soul is, he’s happy that Father is happy. Took him three decades, but it’s worth it," Yaroslav said proudly, his eyes never once leaving the screen.

He looked content with what he was seeing, and frankly, everyone else was waiting for him to snap because that was his father and his ex-husband. Surely there had to be some reaction, right?

"Katya’s glow came back too... He used to be like that, before I screwed up. He was never shy, never afraid of what people would think of him. He used to be so happy, and then I decided for him and unintentionally wiped that smile off his face.

"I’m glad he has it back. He feels safe; that’s more than I was able to make him feel," Yaroslav said before he walked back to the couch like he had not just stunned a team of ten assassins.

What the hell were they ever supposed to say to that?

Svet and Andre stared like they didn’t know what Yaro meant, but they knew it so well.

Of course, they remembered this Katya.

The Katya who was so happy and blooming in love with Yaroslav. The Katya who was not terrified of power or anything. The Katya who lived like that was all life was for. They had seen their friend be happy with Yaro before everything changed.

When things changed, they themselves had tried to brighten Katya’s life. They had tried to give Katya a reason to live again.

And while Katya smiled at them a bit more than he did after the trolls, he was never the same.

He’d never been the same.

Today though...

Seeing Sergei’s alpha mark on Katya’s neck, seeing the bite in the shape of the moon, seeing Sergei be indirectly shown as Katya’s mate in front of the whole city, they saw their Katya once again.

The fashion show had happened, and the screen had been split by the broadcasters. On one side was the runway show.

On the other was just...

Katya and Sergei.

They saw Katya watch the models and Sergei stare at Katya adorably. They saw Sergei ask for permission even when he didn’t seem to need it anymore. They saw Sergei slowly lose control and become possessive, yet they didn’t see Sergei completely lose control.

More than anything, they didn’t see the devil of Frolo.

They saw Sergei Moskowsky hopelessly in love with Katya Romanov. And they were happy for the couple.

Though deep down, Svet and Andre knew they’d never let their guard down.

It didn’t matter how much Sergei worshipped Katya.

Yaroslav had once worshipped Katya, and he’d ruined and broken Katya in ways that even they, as his best friends, had never been able to fix.

If Sergei hurt Katya...

If Sergei broke Katya...

They would kill him. No questions asked.

Even if it was the last thing they did with their lives. It had always been that simple for them.

"Young Gamov..." Anya trailed off, settling easily into her role as the caretaker of the Moskowsky family. It was something she had done from the moment Sergei came into Yaroslav and Vitya’s lives, and Yaro knew what she was trying to do.

"Two of the most important men in my life are happy, Anya. No longer broken by life or people. They found happiness in each other, and I’m not going to be the obstacle between them...

"... Besides, look at Katya’s neck. It’s not swollen or too pink. It’s moon-shaped. That’s what shape the marks become for true mates. You know it too.

"I love my father, and we both know his happiness is all I’ve ever wanted for him," Yaroslav said, stunning Anya.

She had not been expecting that, really.

Not from the child who had suffered these past years. She had seen the way Yaroslav had made stupid decisions for Katya and how the decisions had cost him Katya in the end.

"You grew up so fast, young Gamov," Anya sighed softly, her tender voice something that Yaro was already used to.

"I learned a lot along the way too... Also, I don’t think Father is coming to work today, or tomorrow, for that matter. Let’s get back to work, yeah?" Yaroslav said, pointing out the obvious.

And slowly the room shifted.

The quiet that had once been ripped into soft voices, before slowly growing into arguments between Rastenkin and Reeves over who was supposed to have the best handwriting.

They were bickering like always, and it was the kind of normal needed.

Yaroslav, on the other hand, stared at a folder in his cloud drive.

"How To Get Katya Back," it was titled.

But the date...

The folder had last been updated three years ago... When Yaro started considering letting Katya go.

Now he didn’t need the folder anymore.

And in one final act of love for the men he loved in his life...

Yaroslav trashed the folder.

Deleted it permanently. It was time for a fresh start.

And he’d do it while being happy for his father. His careful, present, always-strategizing, overworked father who believed he didn’t deserve love.

His father had found happiness after so long. He laughed freely and frequently lately, smiled often even in tense situations.

Yaroslav would protect this version of his father.

He would protect his father’s happiness.

With his life, if ever there was a need.

Because Sergei Moskowsky deserved peaceful love, again.