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

[SERGEI]

"Let the kids be, Sergei. Let them learn to live with their mistakes. That is how they grow in their marriage," Anya had said.

Not once.

Not twice.

Yet again, as he stared at the television, Sergei reminded himself. Like that was supposed to be the one thing that reminded him of where he stood. Of what this would mean for him, for his son, and for the omega.

And Sergei swore, again and again, that he would keep his distance.

But that night... he didn’t sleep.

How could he, after everything that had happened?

Slowly, his brain forgot to function right, and his body laughed at him, at how desperate he was for the one thing that would definitely ruin him. Yet at the same time, Sergei knew he would let himself be ruined by the omega.

He would let Katya burn him if that was what it took to be close to Katya.

Sergei didn’t know what it was like to sleep again, because every time he closed his eyes, he could see him.

His omega. His Solnyshka.

And Katya was always crying, always looking after everything.

Always begging for mercy, for peace, for anything.

And the one that ripped his heart the most was the statement Katya had told him earlier. Back when he had forced the omega to sign the contract that would save Katya. The contract that the omega never once believed in.

"So... My heart for my mother’s."

Katya had sounded so defeated back then, and that moment never let Sergei be.

Not at breakfast when he threw breakfast sets against the wall like it was the easiest way to silence the cries of the omega that he had triggered himself.

Not at lunch, when he growled at the staff he had been with in his hideout and made sure they left crying, because he needed to feel nothing.

Not at dinner when the food tasted blander than the forehead kiss he had stolen when Katya had been sleeping.

Everything tasted like shit, and his sanity never let him have a moment of peace.

And when the war in his head refused to stop, Sergei knew he had to decide.

Perhaps that is why he made it his mission to go to the residence where Anya had set him up. A residence so protected, so far from the prying eyes, and one that was meant to feel like home for the omega.

Maybe it felt like home, for someone, anyone.

But Sergei knew Katya.

He had studied the omega for years, and he knew that things like these never made Katya happy. Katya believed in family, in love, in happiness, and there was nothing about a residence filled with endless guards and servants that screamed home for him.

Sergei understood that, yet it was a necessity.

It was the one thing he hoped his omega could compromise on.

Because Katya was no longer just a regular omega.

Katya was the omega every omega wanted to be and could only dream of being. He was powerful now, even if he didn’t want the power. He was respected and worshipped by Sergei every chance the mad barbarian got.

That should have been a sequence for happiness, but who was Sergei kidding? Katya would never, never, be happy alone there.

That was why he chose to join him.

Even if just from a distance.

Even if just in stolen moments.

Because even Sergei, in his insane obsession, understood what Anya could tell from everything.

His omega didn’t feel at home.

His omega felt trapped.

And he didn’t even need to ask him to know it.

On one of the endless nights, he walked around the Katya mansion, and Sergei had overheard Katya with his friends. His omega had sounded so defeated, so desperate for an end to everything.

"I... I think they’re going to traffic me. They keep putting me in the same clothes like a show for someone out there. like they’re luring their clients and telling them what I am like. What their property is like.

"If I die, please tell my mother that it was an accident. I don’t want her thinking I was bargained off for her health," Katya had said.

And the worst part, his friends had said nothing.

In the time that Sergei had constantly sneaked here, he had known that Katya had two friends.

Svetlana, a crazy, fearless, former MMA champion, psycho woman who made it her mission to remind Katya each time that she came over, that she could kill Sergei if that was what Katya wanted.

Sergei believed her, honestly, because this was the same woman who had punched Yaroslav on the nose and told him to keep sticking his spoilt rich ass out for being a cheater.

The day she quit working for Knox, she said it was because she refused to work for a bastard who couldn’t keep it in his pants when he had an omega who was loyal to him and loved him.

Of course, Sergei had only heard the rumors and knew that Katya was never alone, but that night, seeing her there, she looked like she meant every word she said.

Funnily enough, he wasn’t objecting to her intentions.

As long as Katya approved. Because if Katya gave Svetlana the go-ahead to kill him, Sergei would never fight the psycho woman.

There was also another friend, Sergei had noticed.

Andre, was his name. He was the most level-headed one. The friend who spoke more sense with affection, and used his intelligence to fight. He spent more time calming Katya and Svetlana down.

Sergei would laugh on some days, when Andre tried to remind Svetlana where they were, and the woman would simply dare them to call Sergei and see if she was bluffing.

He even heard them talk her out of breaking into Sergei’s penthouse and setting it on fire.

Those friends were Katya’s balance, and even Sergei was thankful for them.

But that night...

The night Katya cried about how he knew he was going to die, the night he made a last wish like that, was the end of the road for him; his friends hadn’t said much of anything, really.

Even the crazy Svetlana.

They hadn’t tried to tell Katya comforting words like they always did when Katya talked about his work at the office and how hectic it sometimes was.

It’s almost like they too believed that the Moskowskys were not past tearing through Katya and killing him for their benefits.

And that...

That broke something in Sergei.

He had wanted to call Anya. To tell Anya to make sure his omega was comfortable. But even he knew that no amount of help he gave Katya would ever be translated with ease.

Sergei knew he would have to earn that trust. But how the fuck was he supposed to earn his Solnyshka’s trust when the man was already so sure that the Moskowskys were preparing him for slaughter?

Sergei didn’t leave, though.

He stayed close.

Watched, even when Katya’s friends left and went back home.

He watched the house until the last of the lights went off.

And when he was sure everyone in the house was sleeping, when he was sure the servants were sleeping too, Sergei walked through the front door of his Solnyshka’s home.

"My beautiful Solnyshka," Sergei would whisper.