When We Were Young

Twenty-seven:

Twenty-seven:

A whole week.

It had been a whole week that Aleksander hadn't seen Alina. He had been made to sit in his mother's study, with no computer, only a dim light and finish the law school applications she'd sent by hand. She had a maid bring up a glass of water, and a few sandwiches, and the private investigator she used to watch him stood out by the door making sure that he finished. He was allowed out for bathroom breaks, and nothing more. In case he got any ideas, one of the security guards she had on hire was out by the window.

Aleksander hated this. He was supposed to be getting an inheritance from his father soon, when he was twenty-five, but in the meantime, he had to rely on his mother for everything. Unfortunately, Aleksander had grown up in a certain lifestyle that he'd become accustomed to and that meant if he wanted to continue living in it, he had to play by his mother's rules. For now, that meant filling out her stupid law school applications, and helping her gather dirt on her clients whenever she asked.

At first, Aleksander had taken out student loans when he'd gone to college and intended to work. But football practice, and class had been too much to handle. When he'd refused to major in law, Baghra had cut him off, and said she wouldn't see a penny from him unless he did what she wanted him to do. After the first year, Aleksander was broke, and tired, and nearly suspended. He came to a compromise for his mom. He would tail any students involved in the cases she worked to find out information on them, in exchange for an allowance as long as he got what she needed.

That was why he was being forced into filling out applications for schools he didn't even want to go to. He had just finished the last one, and he went outside to where the P.I. was waiting. He was a tall, meaner looking man with red hair and a mustache named Pekka Rollins. "Did you finish, boy?" he asked.

Aleksander rolled his eyes, and he showed the private investigator the filled-out application. "I'm all finished, Officer Krupke. Will you text my mom a picture so I can get out of here?"

Pekka grunted, then he took out his cell phone, snapped a picture, and texted it to Baghra. After a moment, there was a message from his mom, and Pekka turned to nod at him. "You're good to go. There's a car out front waiting to take you back to school, and your phone is in there too."

Aleksander walked out and as he was about to leave, he turned to Pekka and said, "Rollins."

The Private Investigator looked up at him. "Yes, Morozova?"

"Look, I've been doing this investigating students for my mom since I was in high school, but I've never had a case go on this long. It's been almost four years that we've been looking into this girl. What's so special about Starkov? Why's the case lasted so long?"

Rollins looked him up and down before saying, "It's not like most of her other cases. It's international. There's two sides to it."

"Two sides?" Aleskander said. "Two sides to what? She's a girl that lost her parents."

"Parents that happened to come to two very rich, very prestigious families. Both of those families want to use her for some shit or the other. No one is willing to move first for fear of violating some law or another. So, they have to wait until she graduates college. Those were the terms that were set by the trust."

"Why can't she know?" Aleksander said. "I mean, she remembers her parents. She knows who they were."

"She knows she had parents. She doesn't know who they were. As long as she's in school, she's surrounded by too many of her family's enemies for her to truly know who she is. The minute this information gets out, it will change things radically in the political and business world. She's a storm waiting to happen. So, for now, keep the girl close, and keep everyone else away. Whatever it takes, remember?"

"Got it," said Aleksander.

"Oh," said Pekka, "by the way. Safin had me over to his house for a case I'm working on for him. His wife says hi. Said she 'missed the old times'."

Aleksander winced. "I haven't. Bye, Rollins."

He shoved the last application at him, and then he left. Once he got into the car, he took out his phone and he saw, to his shock, texts from Alina.

Hey, where are you?

Are you okay?

Please tell me you're okay.

Morozova?

Aleksander sighed and he texted Alina:

Hey, family emergency that came up. I'm coming back to campus. Sorry we missed the game. I'm coming back tonight. Can I come see you?

He had been in the car staring anxiously at his phone for about forty minutes when he finally got an answer from her.

Fuck you.