Once Upon A Lie

Forty-five:

Forty-five:

Someone knew.

Aleksander stared at the pictures that had been left in his car. He wasn't sure what was more concerning. That someone knew about the secret ceremony he'd done with Alina in The Starless Saint cathedral or that they had broken into his car. Either way, Aleksander had a folder with pictures of the wedding ceremony he'd been forced into by The Apparat with Alina.

He was at home in his bedroom looking through them. He took out his cell phone, and he called Nikolai. Nikolai answered on the first ring.

"Hey man," his friend said, "I didn't think you were going to talk to me ever again."

Aleksander snorted. "If I got mad at every friend for something fucking stupid our parents did for us because of business, I would have no friends. I know this wasn't what you wanted. I also know you wouldn't do anything to Alina unless she wanted you to."

"Of course, man," said Nikolai, "she's my friend too. I'm not happy about this either, but I can't get my father to back down. Have you heard anything from Alina?"

He sighed. "She's staying with Genya."

Nikolai paused. "Genya? Whose brother is Mal Oretsev?"

He was silent for a moment. "Yes."

"Aleks, are you insane? You're sending her into the arms of the guy that killed my brother."

"Nik, you know that isn't the full story. What Vasily did to Genya was abhorrent, and if there was a fate worse than death, I am sure Mal would have found a way to give it to him. And neither you nor the Saints would say that he was wrong."

"You should go over there and take her away by force."

"No," said Aleksander, "I tried very hard to force her to do things in the beginning. I'm not going to do that again. I told Alina that she could make the rules this time. If she wants to be with me, she can be with me. If she wants to be with other people, she can."

Nikolai snorted. "You are fucking dumbass."

"Excuse me?"

"You should have told your parents, fucked her, and made you the mother of your children. That's what you should have done."

"Romantic," he drawled, "if you try doing that to her, I swear I will slit your throat."

There was a pause. "Noted."

"I'm letting Alina be Alina. But I didn't call to discuss that. Alina said that your father had a security guard watching her."

"Yes," Nikolai replied.

"Did he...take pictures of Alina too?"

"No. He only watched her for a day."

"Then, we've a problem, and I'm going to need your help figuring out what's going on. Someone's sending me pictures of Alina. They've been doing it for a while now."

"Why didn't you tell your father? Or Alina's?"

"I'm not entirely convinced either of our parents have the best interests of Alina."

"Right, well. If it's for Alina, I can find something out. Here's a question for you. Did you ever think that maybe the pictures that you were getting were from Mal?"

Aleksander hissed. "No. I actually hadn't."

"Food for thought, Aleksander. Food for thought."