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

[KATYA]

Forcing himself steady, Katya followed the man to what looked like an empty abandoned office. It was not that hard to assume they existed in a hospital as big as Aslava, so he wasn’t as shocked.

However, when they got there, Katya noticed that the room wasn’t empty.

There was life.

But not just any life.

An entire glam team.

For a moment, Katya staggered, his heart shattering so loudly at the sight. He honestly hadn’t had any expectations but the fact that this was real and, in a hospital, too, had Katya scared out of his wits.

What were they about to prepare him for?

The ultimate sacrifice? A pawn?

Katya wasn’t sure anymore.

The way they were smiling softly at him, like they were about to rock his world in the worst of ways, horrified Katya.

So, they were preparing him for slaughter indeed.

Instinctively, Katya turned to the gruff man who had come with him.

But the look on his face was one that told Katya to stay put or be forced. There was no in-between, and the way this man had talked about his mother made his limbs weaken.

Gods, he was never going to survive whatever Sergei Moskowsky had forced him into.

Why the fuck had that barbarian even taken an interest in him?

Oh, Katya.

"You have fifteen minutes to make him look presentable. If you fail, the cyanide in your mouth will do its job," the man said to the gal team that had been waiting for them.

"Noted, Mr. Volkov," the leader of the team said.

Volkov just grunted as he stepped to the side.

He watched as they changed Katya’s appearance, his hair, and everything about him.

It was a daunting process, but then this had to be done, or at least that was what Katya had started figuring out. Besides, maybe he just needed to be clean so he could be sold off easily, no?

The only thing that no one touched was Katya’s scent gland.

And Katya noticed.

Like a prey that was being managed.

His first thought, this time, was that they were taking him to Sergei, but at the same time, it wouldn’t make any sense.

The Sergei he had seen was different from what he had imagined. Of course, there was a chance that the devil of Frolo was trying to reel him in, but this felt different. Yet even then, the madness had stayed the same.

The stakes were higher than they had ever been for Katya.

Not just because his family was in danger, but because of his mother... The poor woman had only woken up twice in the past week because she was too worn out and was struggling to keep steady.

"Is it done yet?" Volkov asked ten minutes later, as if he didn’t see the progress made already. Maybe it was because the woman outside had demanded that they be fast.

And perhaps in a few more minutes, Katya would be ready.

What Katya noticed instantly, though, was that despite the entire team being here, there was only one set of clothes.

And it was a red set.

"Almost, Mr. Volkov. He just needs to step into the dressing room and put it all on," the woman from before said, her voice calm like her life wasn’t also on the line at the moment.

Katya almost felt terrible for her and her team, because they would die.

All of them. Including Katya.

If whatever this man wanted wasn’t executed perfectly. That should have horrified Katya even more, but instead, his heart broke for them.

People who had only come to do their jobs, or maybe they had been dragged here like Katya had been, too. What the heck was going on at this point?

Katya stared at Mr. Volkov again.

He wasn’t sure what to do, but looked at the man, told him that he didn’t have much of a choice. And so, scared, Katya stepped into the dressing room. Maybe this was the end of the road for him.

The first thing he noticed was the way that the clothes were a perfect fit for him.

Way too perfect.

Even the loafers on his feet were exactly his size. And all Katya could think of was that this was the price of the contract. The price of the soul he had sold for his family’s happiness.

So far, it was all worth it because his mother was alive.

But that didn’t make the pain any easier.

Dejectedly, Katya stepped out, and he could hear gasps from the glam team. He just didn’t care enough to focus. Mr. Volkov still stared at him like he was nothing, and that was all Katya needed to remember where he was.

’Follow me," Mr. Volkov said, ignoring the way that Katya’s heart was beating.

It didn’t take long for them to get back to the smug woman they had been.

"Finally, something worth standing my presence," the woman said smugly.

Katya didn’t flinch.

He just stared at his feet, head bowed, because he thought that if this woman was part of Sergei’s circle, the submission of a mere omega like him was easily the bare minimum expected.

The woman did not correct his posture.

She simply stepped away, but Katya...

He didn’t move. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Instead, he lifted his head to look at the room where his mother was.

The room that would determine his mother’s fate. The room where his sanity lay, and he felt his heart shatter. He didn’t know if he would be alive to see his mother again, or even if this was the last time.

"Get moving or you will be carried," the woman’s cold voice said.

Still, Katya didn’t move.

"My mother..."

"You should have used your brain while signing the papers. Now move, or the precious care she is getting will be lifted by the count of three," the woman stated.

And Katya had never stepped forward that fast.

His head was dizzy, so dizzy that the looks the hospital staff was giving him were the least of his problems.

He knew how he looked.

He had checked himself out in the mirror earlier.

He was in a scarlet suit with nothing beneath the blazer and black loafers on his feet. The blazer itself had a V shape at the chest that revealed more than Katya had ever dared to show the world.

Yet this time, he knew he had no choice.

His hair was not in the usual manbun he managed; it rolled down his shoulders in waves like he didn’t belong to himself anymore.

Even then, looking so good, Katya had never felt dirtier.

He felt like a seductress being matched to a target, like his body had been dressed for someone else’s pleasure, not his own.

But who was he kidding?

Nothing about him was his, from the moment he had put pen to the damn paper that Sergei Moskowsky had come with.

"I don’t have all day," the woman said suddenly.

Katya followed in silence, unsure of where he was headed, while silently praying that his mother was okay at the hospital.

His drive wasn’t long, but a part of Katya knew it was because most of the drivers on the road had literally cleared the road for this particular SUV.

Katya had seen some fail at breaks and turn towards the ditches, while others apologized profusely for almost knocking pedestrians.

None of that fazed the woman in the SUV with him.

Not even Mr. Volkov, who was driving.

"We’re here, miss Anya," Volkov said, making Katya look outside.

The courthouse.

Great.