Once Upon A Lie 2

Twenty:

Aleksander had been to the doctor a few times since being found. His memory still wasn't back. The last memory he had was of The Apparat forcing him to marry Alina. But from that moment onwards, everything was a bit of a blank. He knew that something had happened with Zoya and Nikolai from what his parents and Alina had told him. But everything about it felt off.

Even if Zoya had told him that she was pregnant, he didn't picture himself running off with her. He would have helped her with the baby of course, made sure she was taken care of. But Alina had always been the one that he had planned on being with. Not Zoya. The clambake/shower for Alina had lasted late into the night.

Everyone had eaten, and drank far too much. Except for Alina, who had mostly sat with him off in the corner by the bonfire on one of the wooden logs his parents had set up as seating for them. She had sipped on sparkling champagne instead, and he'd done it too. They were only eighteen, and technically not of age yet.

That had never been something their parents really were strict on though.

Eventually, Alina had fallen asleep on his shoulder, so he'd carried her up to their room. But Aleksander couldn't sleep. He went out to the balcony and watched the fireworks. His parents still had their guests there, and they were still partying. They had never been subtle about anything that they did.

When Alina had told him that Zoya was back, he had tried hard not to think about it. All he had told her was that he was glad she was alive. But he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something bad that was going to happen because of her. As he looked out at the ocean, watching the waves crash against the shore, amongst the mingling guests and the music, Aleksnader heard someone let out a scream.

He jumped at the sound.

"Aleks," he heard Alina call from inside.

Aleksander went into their bedroom. "Did you hear that?"

"Yes," she said groggily, "it sounded like someone screaming. Is everything okay?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, but stay here. It came from the beach. I'm going to go see what it was."

She got up, and hugged him tightly to her. "Be careful."

Aleksander smiled at her. "Don't worry. I will be. I'm sure that everything's fine. Someone probably just got drunk and fell in the ocean or something like at the party last year."

"Alright," said Alina, "text me if something goes wrong."

"I will."

He left, then ran down to the beach. He found his mother standing there, her face pale. "Mother," he said, "what happened?"

Baghra pointed with her cane a little way from where they stood. "They found Nikolai."

Aleksander raised an eyebrow. "They found Nikolai? What are you talking about?"

"There," said Baghra.

He forced himself to turn to where she was pointing. Sure enough, there, washed up on the shore was Nikolai Lantsov. Without an ounce of life in him.