Chapter 408: Your Grounding Glacier, My Blazing Star

[FROLO]

"You are suggesting the government deliberately targeted Katya Romanov?"

"I am saying that someone fired at him. Whoever gave that order needs to answer for it."

"But the government also lost hundreds of people."

"I know, but that does not change what happened before the shooting," Aleksandr said quietly.

Sierra watched him.

"And yet you are now leading the operation to take down the people who retaliated."

"I am leading an operation to restore order, especially since we already lost seven hundred and thirty-two people."

"But isn’t that exactly why people are asking whether anyone can actually stop Sergei?" another official spoke up.

Aleksandr nodded tiredly; you could almost see the heartbreak in his eyes, the remorse that he’d calculated very well.

"Sergei Moskowsky is the most dangerous living man in Frolo. He has an empire that functions even when he is not physically present. People loyal to him in places the government can’t reach or even understand.

"His company is protected by people who can kill without hesitation. His son is a trained killer. His closest associates are highly organized. And yesterday, we witnessed what happens when he personally enters a battlefield," Alek stated flatly.

"So why should anyone trust you?" Sierra asked.

"Because I am not pretending he is harmless. I won’t tell the city that Sergei is misunderstood or families who lost people yesterday that they should forgive him. I’m saying that someone has to be truthful about the man we are dealing with."

Sierra stared at him carefully, like she was studying the man of the hour.

"And that honesty extends to Katya Romanov?"

"Yes," Alek said, his expression getting unreadable for a split second there.

"You have called him the love of your life, and now he’s with Sergei. How do you feel about that?"

For a moment, Aleksandr didn’t answer. Instead, the alpha lowered his eyes, breathing slowly and almost... almost fidgeting.

He looked tired, heartbroken, like the very thought of Katya Romanov no longer being his broke his heart to the core.

"It hurts," Alek breathed quietly, looking away from the cameras.

"I know how this sounds. I am sitting here asking the city to trust me with a situation that involves the man who took the person I loved from me.

"... But I cannot pretend that doesn’t hurt," he added, before wiping away a tear that he’d let out.

His voice cracked.

"I loved Katya, still do. I think part of me always will care for him after everything. We had a life, plans to get married. He was my future, Sierra," Alek’s voice cracked before...

"I’m sorry. I know this is not what you wanted to see, but talking about him is not easy."

Sierra watched him carefully.

"You said Sergei took him from you."

"No, I... I shouldn’t have used those words... Because my little rose isn’t property," Aleksandr swallowed, blinking his tears away.

Sierra didn’t question the pet name, figured it would only have the senator’s heart shattering again.

"Whatever my feelings are about being dumped by him, I don’t get to rewrite his choices because I’m heartbroken."

"But you believe Sergei had something to do with the breakdown of your relationship."

"I believe things changed after Sergei came into our lives as a constant. We were still together when I first started noticing it... the distance," Alek sniffled before continuing:

"The charity gala nearly two years ago, when little rose and I were still together then. I saw Sergei follow him into a washroom only to come out smelling like Sergei. After that, things between my little rose and me started getting worse."

"Do you believe Sergei manipulated him?" Sierra asked carefully.

"I don’t know. But Sergei is a really high-ranking alpha, and my little rose was an omega. We have already seen Sergei willing to use coercion when he wanted something."

"Oh... The contract that he forced Katya Romanov to sign??" Sierra asked, curiously, as the other politicians just listened.

This was far beyond the scope of what they had come here for, and honestly, they were willing to sit through it if it meant understanding how to deal with the devil of Frolo once and for all.

"Whatever anyone thinks of me, really happened. But my little rose was put in a position where saying no came with consequences. So when I see people cheering for their true mate bond, I don’t trust it. Because Sergei is not to be trusted with bonds."

"You believe the bond could have changed Katya’s feelings?"

"I believe a true-mate bond is powerful."

"That isn’t the same as answering the question."

"No... Because I don’t know," Alek smiled tiredly.

"I don’t know whether little rose fell in love with Sergei before the bond, because of the bond, or whether the bond simply made feelings that already existed much stronger."

"Then why bring that up?"

"Because the city is looking at little and seeing someone they don’t quite recognize anymore. My little rose wasn’t reckless and hated violence. He stepped away from power because he wanted a quieter life." Alek wiped another tear.

"Now he is standing beside Sergei Moskowsky. Wearing his mark. Lives inside his world. Bonded to him."

"And you think those things are evidence that Katya doesn’t love Sergei?"

"No, I think they are evidence that something changed," Alek said instantly.

"But people change when they fall in love."

"They do. Maybe that’s all this is. Maybe my little rose fe... fell deeply in love with him. Maybe I am simply the bitter ex who cannot accept that," Alek’s breath hitched, his head bowed in shame.

"I hope that’s what it is... Gods, I really do... Because the alternative is worse. If my little rose believes he is in love with Sergei because he has been influenced into feeling it, that would break him."

Everything went still.

No one dared to breathe, not even the people typing in the back pressed their keyboards.

That accusation alone was enough to have the studio flattened by Sergei. They knew it. How dangerous it was, but gods be damned if this wasn’t some unhinged shit they were seeing.

What the fuck was Aleksandr on? Wasn’t this a discussion about the terrorism charges and the position he had been given by the president today?

Oh, they were fucked.

"You think Sergei could have manipulated him into loving him?"

"I think the most powerful alpha in the city is capable of manipulating almost anyone... especially a kind omega who spent years trusting people and believing there was good in them," Alek insisted.

"Are you saying Katya is weak?"

"No... I’m saying he deserves to be treated like he has a choice."

"What if he says he chose Sergei?"

"Then I’ll believe him.... I have no right to take his choice away from him. I lost him. That doesn’t mean I own him," the alpha breathed shakily.

Once again, the room went silent.

"You still love him."

Alek breathed, letting out a low, defeated chuckle.

"Yes, but loving someone doesn’t mean wanting them to suffer. I don’t want little rose branded a terrorist because of the people around him. And I don’t want people assuming that because he is standing beside the devil of Frolo, he must have chosen every part of Sergei’s world."

"Then who do you blame?" Sierra asked.

"Sergei chose that world."

"And yet Katya is in the middle of it."

"Because he loves him... or it’s what he’s conditioned to believe. The bond makes it very difficult to know where love ends, and influence begins."

A ripple of murmurs was heard in the studio.

"You realize that is a strong accusation to suggest on national television. You could ruin their relationship by saying this."

"I don’t want to destroy anything." Alek’s tear fell as he wiped it harshly. "I just want little rose safe... I hope he remembers he can always leave."

The studio went quiet.

And Sierra turned toward the camera.

"Perhaps that is the question Frolo is left with today... When we look at Katya Romanov standing beside Sergei Moskowsky, are we looking at a man who found the love of his life..." she said before turning to Alek...

"...or are we looking at a man whose life changed so completely that we no longer know where his own choices end and the influence of Sergei Moskowsky begins?"