Chapter 377: And Maybe Warnings Were Not Warnings?

[FROLO]

"Doctor, he’s coding again!"

The doctors were busy.

Way too busy.

The patient they’d gotten was unstable. Severely unstable, and it was unnerving. The instructions the Leader had left them were simple.

This patient must survive, no matter what happens.

That was hours ago.

When they were back at the Bratva infirmary.

But the patient’s condition had changed drastically. So much so that they had to shift the patient to the private wing of Aslava Hospital.

It was the only place where the patient could get better care and have higher chances of survival. They hadn’t even been able to tell that to the Leader because, frankly, it was crazy.

"Are you sure he will survive this?" Kenzo had asked when they’d suggested the transfer. He knew Alek wanted that patient alive at whatever cost, and frankly, it was the only reason Alek was still steady.

The patient was his anchor in these times, and fuck if it didn’t mess him up.

"We have to try, Kenzo. We have to. Because otherwise he will die. There is so much fentanyl and cocaine in his system. If we don’t flush that out, he will die. And as you said, he can’t die, so please, trust us," the doctor had pleaded like so many lives depended on it.

Which was why hours later, closer to midnight, they were still trying their very best in the private wing of Aslava Hospital. The patient’s condition was insane, and honestly, there was no guarantee for anything.

Yet the man had to be revived.

Lives depended on it.

Back at the Bratva, Alek had arrived.

He was too tired to think. Too tired to even breathe right. And for a moment as he passed the infirmary, he willed himself to keep moving, because if he didn’t, he would not even have the energy to face the man in the morning.

What he had done was something that Joe would have frowned upon.

"You’re back," Kenzo greeted, standing in the dark hallway silently.

"I failed again, Kenzo," Alek sighed in defeat, looking at the only person who understood him. He looked defeated, worn out from all the fighting and attacking he’d been doing.

Going after Sergei was a stupid move.

He knew it, especially this early, because Sergei had to have expected that already. And knowing that madman, there wasn’t a thing that he would not do for Katya. Alek had underestimated that by a lot.

A part of him thought that the madman knew nothing of the true mate bond.

But surely, he should have expected the barbarian who went through everything and did whatever was needed to protect his people, not to do the same for the one man he loved with everything too.

Perhaps there would come another day for him to get Sergei, but why did it feel like forever was just another concept for them?

"I think you need to take a step back and go back to the drawing board, Alek," Kenzo said as he looked at the alpha.

"Is it really that bad?" Aleksandr asked, sliding down the wall to the floor.

So much had been happening, and he was so afraid of fucking things up and so disoriented, and everything was still fucked up. It was not even making any sense to him.

He had a feeling Sergei had been there that night.

He knew it because that attack had been personal, even if it was Rastenkin who had come to do the job. He knew that crazy alpha had been somewhere around. And yet even with that information, he still didn’t know whether it would be worth it in the end.

"Sergei..." Kenzo breathed like the name itself was poison on his lips.

"What?"

"There is a reason everyone calls him the Devil of Frolo, Alek," Kenzo added, looking at the alpha on the floor like he was trying to find a better way of making things easier for Aleksandr.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Alek asked, genuinely not understanding a thing at the moment. The way Kenzo was speaking was as if the man was having the worst of flashbacks.

Everyone knew the devil of Frolo was the devil for what he did to the city. What could be worse than what had happened all those years ago?

"Anyway, if you want to keep the fight with Sergei, you need to decide what you are going at him for. If it’s petty jealousy because Katya chose him, then you’re wasting your time and your resources," Kenzo said straight up.

Alek stiffened.

He was definitely not expecting that, much less from Kenzo.

"Kenzo..."

"I’m being serious, Daniil," Kenzo said, speaking that name for the first time in over thirty years.

And that...

That got Alek’s attention.

That name hadn’t been spoken in so long; hell, Alek almost forgot that it was his name in the first place.

Or maybe because the last time he had heard his name was right before he lost the love of his life. It was not something that Kenzo would touch on with ease, especially when there was literally someone who looked like Joe in his infirmary.

Instinctively, Alek looked in the direction of the infirmary. The door was just a few steps away. The door that he had tried so hard not to look at today because, at the end of the day, he had to face that part of the truth once and for all.

Joe had come back.

Alek believed it.

He trusted it, even if Kenzo was insistent that Joe was gone. It didn’t make sense, but what the fuck was he supposed to say? What the hell was he going to even do about that?

"Daniil, huh?" Alek breathed, his name sounding foreign on his own lips.

And he remembered:

"I will not make it out of this war, my Pietro. But you have to live. You have to survive. I was meant to die in a war like this. A year from now or even seventy years from now. It’s my fate, my precious. And I can’t outrun it.

"I just thought I’d last a little longer so I’d get to spend more time with you. But life’s a bitch when Sergei exists," Joe had said, looking into Daniil’s eyes softly.

Back then, Alek hadn’t tried to think too much of it.

He didn’t even know who the fuck Sergei was. But the fear and the resolve in Joe’s eyes back then should have told him enough. Should have had him staying straight with himself. But then he hadn’t.

His grief hadn’t let him.

Now here he was.

Dealing with the man he knew nothing of at the time he had lost the most precious thing to him. And Kenzo was speaking of the man like the devil himself was terrified of the devil of Frolo.

But was Sergei really that bad?

"Sergei... he’s not your usual criminal. There’s a reason the city still fears even looking at him the wrong way. The only thing I can advise you to do is think hard about whatever decision you make.

"You know I will walk with you even into the fire. But you need to decide. You can still turn back, and we can apologize to the man and lead our lives. We can leverage the Romanov omega’s kindness.

"His alpha will definitely listen to him. But if you choose to go forward, then there is only one ending for both of us. Death at the hands of Sergei," Kenzo spoke softly before he walked away, leaving Alek wondering what the fuck he had just listened to.

"What the hell?"