Chapter 439: For Ruining What We Could Have Been

[FROLO]

Midnight calls were very rare for Kenzo, especially from his family.

Over the years, he’d made sure that no one called past one o’clock because then it was past his wife and children’s sleeping time.

It was a system so simple, with Bratva members embedded in the household as servants and people who made life easier for his family.

They were happy, and Kenzo was happier even if it was from a distance.

So when the call came past midnight, Kenzo stared at his phone.

It was still early.

One hour left before he would be suspicious about his family’s safety. Most of the time, his wife called to complain about their son, who caused a lot of trouble in society.

Kenzo’s son was a delinquent teen who did whatever he wanted, which was why he didn’t hesitate to pick up the call.

He knew it wouldn’t be harmful for him because Alek was with Mrs. Smirnova, but damn, Kenzo just wanted to have a peaceful night.

"Hello, honey," Kenzo greeted softly.

"Honey is a bit indisposed, Kenzo. I’m calling to say hello," Elara said calmly.

"Who are you?" Kenzo asked, but a part of him already knew there was only one man and his minions who would ever be able to break past his defenses, and he would know about it instantly.

But maybe this was just a thug trying to break in. But why would a thug call him Kenzo when he didn’t even use that name in normal people’s circles?

Kenzo had hidden his family well. So well that it was impossible to find them.

Yet they had been found.

Yet someone had cracked in and got through the defenses he had set up.

This wasn’t calming at all.

"Someone who could treat your wife better than you do," Elara said, like it was just another day for her.

She could hear Kenzo on the other end of the phone. She could hear him pack up and leave through a door, or maybe he jumped? There was no telling.

And when Elara heard a bike revving on the other side, the woman spoke into the phone calmly, like it was just another day.

"He is coming. It will take him twenty minutes to get here. We need to finish this in ten," Elara said to Rastenkin, making sure Kenzo heard her.

Then she hung up when she heard the engine roar, though in truth, she was toying with Kenzo’s senses.

Turning to the woman staring at them, scared, Elara smiled calmly, as if that would make up for the grimace on Rastenkin’s face or even the fact that Rastenkin couldn’t believe that this was what the normal family Kenzo had created for himself looked like.

It was heartwarming.

Especially with the boy on the floor, because Rastenkin had slipped him into unconsciousness when the boy was rude to his mother and had tried to fight Rastenkin.

One slap was all it took for the teen to shut up.

"He isn’t dead, but he might have to rethink how he talks to you," Rastenkin said suddenly, so casually, as he had just slapped a son into unconsciousness while the mother watched.

"What do you want? You said ten minutes. What will you do to us in ten minutes?" the woman asked, scared for her life.

"Nothing really. We just wanted to say hello to Kenzo. Besides, our business isn’t with you. You can go back to sleep; we’ll just wait here. ℴ

"Of course, if you try calling the guards, you won’t reach any of them because we actually killed all thirteen of them. So don’t bother. The police won’t come in time either.

"You can either sit calmly and wait out the ten minutes with us or try to fight, and you join your demon spawn on the floor," Rastenkin said, and the woman looked at him tiredly.

She looked horrified at the fact that two psychos were inside her house like it was just another day. What the fuck was she to make of this?

"You just want to sit with me?" the woman asked tiredly.

"Yeah. If you could please make us some coffee, it would be great, if you don’t mind. And if you try poisoning the coffee, your son will die, and then we will mutilate your husband and make you watch just how his insides are thick," Rastenkin said before turning to Elara:

"Do you remember the first intestine you took out and how it was messy?" Rastenkin laughed, and Elara grumbled.

"I was so scared that boss would shoot me. I thought to myself, like, yeah, this is the day I die at the hands of Sergei Moskowsky. And he just told me it was okay for the first time," Elara said, leaning against the wall, a fond smile on her face at the memory.

"Yeah, he’s always a softie sometimes, but he will definitely kill you if you mess up more than once," Rastenkin said, and Elara just laughed softly.

"This boy on the floor, he looks like he troubles his mother a lot. Was boss like this with you too?" Elara asked in earnest.

"Sergio was a worse devil. That kid still haunts me in my sleep. It’s unbelievable he has grown up into a man who the city is scared of.

"If only these bastards could give him his omega back and then he’d be happy at the very least," Rastenkin said as Kenzo’s wife prepared them coffee in the kitchen.

"They won’t do it. We just have to figure out a way to make sure the boss doesn’t lose himself before he gets Katya back," Elara said calmly, her heart shattering for the man who had been beside her for a long time.

Sergei was as loyal as people could ever be, and it hurt to see him that broken and lost.

The fact that he was operating with no humanity during the day, and at night he was just this man who was so stressed that he couldn’t even control his dreams from spilling out at night.

It was crazy because at the end of the day it was just him, the powerful man who was trying his very best to hold on while pretending not to be grieving.

"Katya?" Kenzo’s wife said, and the duo looked at her amusedly.

"Yup. The one your husband and his stupid boss have been hurting through and through," Rastenkin said flatly.

"He didn’t love him," the woman said, and Rastenkin raised a brow.

"Careful, sweetheart. I am not past killing you just because you’re pretty useful for the moment. I have murdered people for less," Rastenkin warned.

Kenzo’s wife just sighed.

"The senator didn’t love him like he was supposed to," she said, adding the last bit like it made sense.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Elara asked.

"I heard them talking. The Romanov young master was supposed to be a stepping stone to Sergei... but something happened and Alek... he lost control of the plan.

"They tried to strategize a few times, but how do you use someone you’re in love with?" Kenzo’s wife said, and Elara snorted.

"Righttt... because we are supposed to believe the woman whose house we broke into for the night," Elara mused.

"You don’t have to trust me. But you set my son straight, even if just for a few minutes of the night. I can’t thank you with anything other than to let you know that Alek is still in love with Katya Romanov.

"It’s why they didn’t start phase two to this day. Why he refuses to do what they planned and keeps postponing," Kenzo’s wife said, and that got Rastenkin’s attention.

She sounded genuine, and while Rastenkin would take her words with a pinch of salt, he couldn’t help but be curious.

"Phase two?"

"Yes. Alek needed the Romanov boy to get to Sergei. Whether as someone Sergei loved or as the ultimate heir to the Levinoviches, a weapons manufacturing plant that fed their world.

"A plant that would give him the power to attack Sergei for the incident thirty years ago. Those were the only ways to get to Sergei, but it all got slowed because he fell in love with his target.

"I’m not sure you know this, but the Levinoviches are the Romanovs," Kenzo’s wife said, handing them coffee.

"With Katya’s connection, he could supply the weapons in the underworld himself and try to best Sergei like that. With Katya’s love for him, he would use Katya against Sergei," Elara said.

Kenzo’s wife just nodded.

"Please don’t tell him I told you; he will kill me," Kenzo’s wife said, and Rastenkin just stared.

"We won’t. Have a good night, Mrs. Kenzo."

Then they left, with the first real hint of what phase two for Aleksandr was.

"That jolly little fucker, Daniil," Rastenkin laughed.