Once Upon A Lie

Fifty-eight:

Fifty-eight:

Alina's cell phone wouldn't stop ringing. She had stayed at the hospital most of the night with Genya until Mal was released. His arm was in a sling, and he had a slight concussion. But for the most part, he was okay. Her father's driver took her home and it was on the drive her cell phone went crazy.

She took it from her pocket to answer. "Hello?"

"Alina," her mother's voice said, "have you seen the news today?"

She paused. "Please don't tell me that my engagement announcement is in there."

Makhi paused.

"Mama, what is it?" Alina said, now suddenly desperate. Her mother was always very direct, and usually the first to tell her if there was something wrong. If she was hesitating, that meant something terrible was coming her way. "Mama?"

Makhi took a deep breath. "The Nazyalensky girl made the cover of the paper."

"For what?" Alina asked.

"For being pregnant with Aleksander's child."

Alina's stomach clenched. No, that had to be wrong. It had to be some false, malicious rumor that Zoya was trying to spread to get her way somehow. "No, that's wrong. No, Aleksander told me that he'd never had sex with her. They'd fooled around, but he never fucked her."

"Apparently he did," said Makhi, "your father and Mr. Morozova are meeting with the girl today to go over the will. No one knows where Aleksander is because he's run away. I suspect this is why. Zoya Nazyalensky's child is going to inherit half of The Fold, and until the child turns eighteen, Zoya will be in charge of their shares."

She took a deep breath. "That's more than half of the company. She could do anything with it."

"Exactly," said Makhi, "and with your father taking out that loan from Lantsov-----"

"We'll be left with nothing," Alina finished.

Makhi was quiet for a moment. "Alina, I know that this whole thing hasn't been fair to you. We've put a lot of responsibility when we shouldn't have. But if you were to marry the Lantsov boy, Petyr would be willing to forgive our debts. And Nikolai might not be Aleksander, but he's from our world. He's been in love with you since he was a boy. He would...I have reason to believe that he would make you happy if you let him."

She wanted to tell her mother everything. To explain that the only reason Nikolai wanted to marry her was to get back at Aleksander for Vasily's death. That Nikolai wasn't even Petyr's son, but Magnus Opjers. On the one hand, she knew something about Nikolai that no one else did. And, for the first time, Alina had an advantage over everyone.

Which was why she had no problem telling her mother, "Okay."

"Okay?" her mother said. "Okay, what?"

"Okay, I'll do it. I'll marry him."

Of course, none of it meant that she had to stay married to him.