Contract Marriage: Married to My Ex-Husband's Alpha Stepfather [BL]

[KATYA]

The silence was deafening, but it wasn’t as loud as the thoughts twirling in Katya’s mind.

It was almost like a dream that he had spent too much time trying to snap out of town as he stood there and looked at the woman everyone was fawning over. Katya couldn’t help but think of just how well they fit each other.

She was beautiful.

Of course, Sergei would choose her. It wasn’t even an assumption right now. Katya understood.

He couldn’t compete.

Not that he wanted to...

Right??

"Chairman Katya, you’re here," Katya heard again as he stood in the dimly lit corridor space.

He had just wanted to go home.

He had wanted to go spend the rest of his night in his bed.

Yet now...

Sergei was here.

In the flesh.

Looking like any regular guy.

Wearing tank tops and shorts that had Katya staring at the alpha’s body for a long minute there.

Gods, he was well built.

His hair was still in a rough, messy man bun. There were lipstick stains on his lips, and Katya’s chest hurt more than he had expected.

This man was once his jailer.

So, what the fuck was he feeling?

Still, Katya stared.

At how good the alpha looked. How he was holding a basket of groceries in one hand while the other, Irina, was holding onto him for dear life.

It was almost ironic how they looked so domestic while Katya was having brain freezes at the moment.

Katya could see her smudged lipstick, and he didn’t have to add one to one to know what had happened.

And he wanted to go home now more than ever.

Yet he found himself standing still.

Not making a move even though his entire being wanted to get out of that place.

He just wanted to have some peace.

So why the fuck was he being bothered at two o’clock in the morning by Sergei simply existing and living his life the same way Katya was free to live his own?

"You scared him," Katya heard Irina say, while he stared at Sergei like a man who was seeing a ghost.

And maybe it was true.

Sergei had been the ghost that haunted Katya’s life indirectly for six months.

The omega hadn’t been able to function properly despite the fact that he was a free man with a choice and whose decisions were respected.

And now...

Katya didn’t know what to say.

"Hey R—" Sergei began, and Katya sneezed fast.

Like the thought of hearing his last name from Sergei’s mouth was more haunting than the flat title he had been addressed with for months.

Maybe because if he heard Sergei call him Romanov, it would mark the permanence of everything.

Maybe because after all this time, Katya still wanted to hope.

The groceries in Sergei’s hands were the worst smack of the craziest of realities.

Katya had waited for dinners and breakfasts. Even just one with Sergei.

And for six months, they never came.

Now here he was, looking as handsome as ever with a woman clinging to him, lipstick stains, and all. And Katya couldn’t even get out another word. What was he supposed to say?

What was he supposed to do?

Especially not what he was seeing Sergei and Irina together?

And why did Katya want to puke his guts out at the sight?

"Dammit, why the fuck would you work late when you know you’re allergic to cold?" Sergei scolded, grumbling lowly in disapproval before he reached the bag on his back, one that Katya hadn’t even noticed the alpha was carrying.

Then Sergei got out his sweater, one that Katya had seen him wear more than once.

And Sergei didn’t wait for Katya’s reaction.

He simply handed the groceries to Irina, then the alpha stepped forward and put the sweater on Katya. He didn’t stop to ever think of what this looked like.

All Sergei was focused on was making sure Katya wore the sweater. Almost like he knew if he left it with the omega before the pegs wore it, Katya wouldn’t ever put it on.

Irina watched in silence as Sergei carefully dressed Katya, making sure to undo the omega’s braided hair in silence and with a precision and speed that was a tad shocking.

Only when Katya’s hair fell down his neck and the sweater held onto Katya keeping him warm, only when Sergei pulled his scarf from his neck and put it around Katya’s neck, did the alpha step back.

It was an unrealistic sight.

Yet Irina never once complained.

Perhaps because to her, they were family.

A father and a son-in-law.

"How did you know it was the chairman?" Irina asked the pressing question.

Sergei didn’t even think of an answer.

"His breathing pattern," Sergei said, as if it were normal. Not explaining further.

It was like he didn’t just make an admission that confused the hell out of Katya and Irina.

And Katya didn’t even say a word.

Instead, he just watched.

Because what was he supposed to say?

Demand dinners and breakfasts?

Demand attention?

Demand answers when he had been given the freedom he always wanted?

"Come, I’m taking you home," Sergei said, not even waiting for Katya to say a word.

It was only when Katya’s brain caught up that the omega stopped things from escalating.

"I’m fine," Katya said, before he began to take the scarf off.

"You take that scarf off, and I’m driving you home myself chairman Katya," Sergei growled slowly in warning.

And Katya...

His eyes instinctively met Irina’s confused ones.

"You should go home. It’s already cold enough here without you keeping your date waiting," Katya said sincerely.

Irina smiled honestly at him.

Like she could see the worry on the omega’s face and figured she would ease it for him.

"No worries, chairman. We live in the penthouse right above the office. We only had to use the elevator because there were visibility issues these last few days.

"The weather has been nasty," Irina said simply without any malice or emotion in her voice.

Besides, she was simply stating facts anyway.

Once again, Katya’s brain stopped functioning.

The penthouse right above the office.

Six months of waiting.

Six whole months.

Six months of worrying.

Six months of wondering where Sergei lived and lay his head for the night.

Yet the man was literally right above him all this time.

"Oh, I see. I’ll get going now. The senator is coming to pick me up," Katya said, and he could swear he saw Sergei’s eyes darken on the dim floor.

But he didn’t wait.

Instead, he just excused himself and went to his office.

Then he went to the elevator, only to see Sergei and Irina still rooted to the same spot.

And Sergei’s hands were still clenched into fists.

Katya saw it.

Or maybe it was just in his head alongside everything else that was fucking with him.

"I’ll go now, Mr. Moskowsky," Katya said before he walked out.

No goodbyes.

No, see you soon.

No nothing.

Just professional titles and shit he couldn’t explain.

Katya felt the alpha’s eyes on him even as he entered the elevator.

Then the doors closed, and Katya could swear he saw Sergei pull his Irina closer, kissing her hair like it was routine for them.

But that was just an illusion, right?

There was just no way that the big bad alpha was suddenly reacting to him, right?

"What the hell just happened?" Katya sighed when the elevator began going down.

His hands were shaking, yet somehow, he was surrounded by a thick rainforest scent that seemed to calm him the moment his brain relearned to function.

The sweater smelled like Sergei.

All of him.

The scarf?

Oh, but Katya breathed it in hungrily like a man starved.

He couldn’t explain shit right now.

The only thing that was on his mind was Sergei playing dress up with him.

Sergei knowing how to find him even without a scent.

Yet the same Sergei had pulled Irina closer.

Oh, but Katya was fucked.

He knew he shouldn’t have leaned into anything he had just seen and heard.

But the little object in his chest was too giddy for his own liking.

And perhaps that was why the entire weekend, Katya went radio silent.

He only turned the TV on to watch movies, never the news.

But weekends never lasted forever.

And shareholder meetings were not exciting.

Save for the fact that when Katya walked into that meeting on Monday...

Nothing had changed.

There was still an empty seat beside him.

No Sergei.