Chapter 440: Desperately Swollen With Hoarded Love

[FROLO]

Aleksandr had been prepared for everything that could happen. For whatever Rastenkin would say to lure him outside, especially since for four weeks Rastenkin hadn’t come at him or Mrs. Smirnova.

Not after the thumb Sergei had delivered.

It was just Alek and his paranoia.

The fact that there wasn’t a place for him to hide the woman, so the Moskowskys wouldn’t get to her, made it even more impossible to deal with. Which was why he chose to stay with her. But even that had not prepared him for the fact that this doctor was here.

Doctor Marjan Malik.

He knew it was a fake name, but it didn’t change the feeling.

"You can go back home now, Lorna. Thank you for your service," Meera said to the woman they had yanked out of bed.

The woman didn’t hesitate. She grabbed her baby and rushed back home. Not once looking back.

Mrs. Smirnova and Aleksandr stood stiff at the door.

"Meera," Mrs. Smirnova said, her voice shaking as if this were the most unexpected of visits.

To be fair, even Meera hadn’t planned to get out of bed at one o’clock to defy her boss’s orders. But such was life right now, no?

"Hello, Julia. Did you miss me? I have missed you so much. Anyway, are you moving out of the way or do I find my way in?" Meera asked calmly.

Alek stood in the doorway, pulling Mrs. Smirnova protectively.

"You lied about your name," Alek said, and Meera laughed.

"You’re the stupidest Bratva leader there ever has been. It’s a miracle you didn’t know that the man who was playing your sweet Pietro fucking Joe was the former leader of the very Bratva you are running to the ground at the moment," Meera smirked.

It was as if that was supposed to ease Aleksandr into the conversation. In truth, there had been speculations about what had happened to Don Raul Kosov.

Many had assumed he went to legitimate businesses and disappeared off the face of the realm, while others speculated he had died. It was easier to choose the latter option because Don Raul Kosov was brutal.

He was the kind of man who only ever feared Sergei Moskowsky. Everyone else was below him, and he made sure to let people know that. So when he disappeared, everyone knew the Kumarin Bratva leader did not just choose a vacation.

That he didn’t leave the dirty empire he had and was running away from everything. It made no sense.

Even to this day, people believed Raul Kosov was dead. Well, the Hercules had managed to get the man cremated and shit for good now, but that was a second death, perhaps?

There was no excitement there anymore.

Not even for Meera.

Which was why listening to Alek here was more of a pitiful moment of reason with the one man who couldn’t even distinguish light from night.

"Raul?" Alek asked, and Reeves looked at Mrs. Smirnova.

"Julia. We can either come in peacefully or force our way in. Either way, you and I have to talk. Get your guard dog to settle, and maybe this will end well. Because as it is, we are running low on time.

"I would hate to be the reason the kill switch in your brain is triggered," Reeves said calmly, only for Meera to pull out what looked like a button from her pocket.

"Rastenkin made me a copy in case I was feeling down. I’m so close to feeling down, Julia," Meera said calmly.

She didn’t even respond to Aleksandr, who was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his life in this city was just some whole circus he was not even able to define anymore.

He should have stayed clear with his plans, and instead he had managed to rile up everyone, which made it even harder.

Because with Katya gone, there was no way for him to infiltrate the Levinoviches.

And he couldn’t even tell the government that the Romanovs were the Levinoviches because it would cost him the angle he would be using to get Sergei down. There was no winning here for him.

So when Mrs. Smirnova touched his shoulder, Alek knew it was time to surrender. He would just add this to the long list of things he had never expected from the madman’s team.

Still, Sergei hadn’t even shown up at his gates again after that ridiculous show for water. What the fuck was Aleksandr supposed to expect?

"This is not over, Doctor Malik," Alek said, stepping to the side and letting them in.

He stayed at the door to make sure there was no backup. But he knew that even if there was no backup, these two were trained by Sergei and Rastenki,n which didn’t make it any better if Alek chose to try and attack them.

The poor woman he had come to protect stared at him softly and with defeated eyes, even as Meera and Reeves took off their shoes as if that was the greatest thing they had learned.

"We were taught to not get into someone’s house with dirty shoes. Stop staring like you don’t know the fundamentals of manners in Frolo," Meera scolded when Alek kept staring at their shoes.

"Julia..." Meera began, making the woman stiffen.

"Relax. We only came to see how you are doing," Meera said, and Alek stared.

Really stared.

Because there was just no way these two psychos went to a poor woman’s house, hauled her and her wife out of bed, and used them to come and get access into this house. Only to end with they came to check on the woman?

Were loose screws in the head a requirement to be part of Sergei Moskowsky’s band of misfits, or were these two just lost in the head and had nothing proper to do in the night than terrorize innocents?

"What?" Julia Smirnova asked, wearing the same confused face as Alek. Though Alek had started getting angrier, releasing his pheromones, which Meera found to be cute, and smiled at Alek for it.

"Rastenkin said we should come check in on you. You were told that we would be checking in at any time of the day, right?

"Surely you didn’t think odd hours in the night were excluded, no?" Meera asked calmly, her voice steady and holding no remorse.

Al,ek on the other hand, was fuming.

"Goodness, blueberry, can you tone down your stench? It’s prickling my nose," Meera said, irritated by the volume of Aleksandr’s scent.

"You’re not betas?" Alek asked, clearly surprised that these two were smelling his scent. Betas could smell scents but not distinguish whether it was bitter or sweet. They only judged by the directions of their partners and whatnot.

"Do I look like a beta? Daniil, you really need to do better than thinking all of us are betas like you," Reeves scolded, and Alek wondered what the hell he was dealing with.

"Anyway, Mrs. Romanov. Our check-in is over. We have been in here for exactly seven minutes, so we have to take our leave. Have a good night and don’t let the boy who sacrificed your son play your protector.

"He couldn’t even protect Joe; it makes me wonder why you trust him to protect you. But what do I know, right? Have fun and goodnight, Julia! See you again sometime soon," Meera said, getting up, ignoring Alek’s shocked face.

And just like the other heads of the Myrtles, they went back to Hercules HQ.

Where Sergei...

Was bargaining his life for Katya’s in his nightmares.

Again.