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licia chewed her lip in anticipation. It had been a few weeks since the night she and Aleksandar had first lain together. Instead of drifting away, as most men did, Aleksandar had pursued her more, and now he had invited her along to greet his family from Britain. They were coming over to start a new life in America. From Alicia’s understanding, things had been difficult for them since the conservative government implemented austerity measures. David had lost his job and had written to Aleksandar beseeching his aid.
Though she did not want to admit it, the invitation to be included in this venture to collect Aleksandar’s family both pleased and terrified her. The thought of meeting more people like Aleksandar had her worried. She was a working-class girl. Aleksandar was clearly an upper-class gentleman. What would his family think of her?
Then again, if they had to beg Aleksandar for work, perhaps they were not as wealthy as he.
And then there was the issue of being included in this family affair. What on earth could that mean? Dare she hope that he was far more serious about her than she had previously assumed? And what would that mean? More troubling, did she return the feelings?
“... the stupidest thing to do during difficult economic times,” Aleksandar was saying as the sedan sped towards the airport.
Alicia looked up, realising that her thoughts had taken her away from the conversation.
Aleksandar noted her expression with a tilt of his head and a small smile. “Nervous?” he guessed.
Alicia nodded and Aleksandar took her hand. “They will love you,” he told her softly.
“What if they don’t?” Alicia asked.
“How could they not?” Smiling, Aleksandar brought her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. “Besides, I have written to them of you. Marcia insisted on meeting you immediately.”
“To judge my worth?”
Aleksandar laughed. “Perhaps a little, but more likely intense curiosity. It has been a very long time since I’ve had anyone of note in my life.”
“I’m someone of note?”
Aleksandar’s small smile fell slightly. “Could you believe otherwise?”
Alicia flushed and tore her gaze away from his earnest dark eyes. “I may have a little difficulty accepting it,” she murmured.
Aleksandar sat in silence, holding her hand, watching her.
“It’s like some bizarre alternate reality,” Alicia continued. “Where poor girls can become princesses. Disney come to life.” She glanced briefly at Aleksandar. “It should be impossible.”
“Think for a minute about what you’re saying,” Aleksandar said, his voice sad and soft. “You’re saying it’s impossible that I could love you.”
“Not exact...” Alicia looked at Aleksandar sharply. “What?” she breathed.
“Alicia, I love you,” Aleksandar said. “Why do you think I’m with you?”
To this, Alicia could say nothing. She stared mutely at Aleksandar, her eyes wide with shock that sent her heart racing. Aleksandar’s small smile returned, but it looked uncertain now.
Forgetting her shock, Alicia threw herself at Aleksandar, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and drawing him close. She felt Aleksandar relax under her embrace. His arms snaked around her and he buried his head in her hair.
A sharp rap on the tinted glass that separated Stoyan in the driver’s seat and Alicia and Aleksandar in the passenger’s seat made Alicia jump. Aleksandar laughed softly. “We’re here.”
Alicia pulled away, looking down. She felt close to tears and was not certain that she wouldn’t just start sobbing like a fool if she met Aleksandar’s gaze.
He cupped her face in his hands and lifted it so she was forced to meet his dark eyes. He smiled and stroked her cheek. “You all right?” he asked gently.
Alicia nodded, and tried to smile. Her lips trembled with the effort. Smiling, Aleksandar leant in and gently kissed her.
“Perhaps I should not have sprung that on you,” he said ruefully.
Alicia smiled, kissed him gently on the cheek and said, “It was a welcome shock.” She grinned at him.
Aleksandar tapped the glass divide, indicating to Stoyan that they were ready to exit the car. Moments later, the door opened and Aleksandar stepped out. He turned and held his hand out for Alicia, who took it as she exited the vehicle.
“I’ll wait by the car,” Stoyan said.
“Nonsense. Adelaide would be heartbroken you didn’t come in to see her,” Aleksandar answered. “A princess must have her adoring court.”
Stoyan grinned. “You make a good point.”
“I know. Come.”
Aleksandar took Alicia’s hand and they walked together into the airport. Stoyan followed, watching them with a smile on his face.
They were early, as the arrivals board indicated. Aleksandar shrugged when he saw the plane had been delayed by a half hour. He turned to invite Alicia and Stoyan to join him at the bar when an excited young voice squealed “Nuncle!” across the arrivals lounge.
Aleksandar turned in surprise to see a young girl sprinting down the carpet towards him, a bright smile plastered across her face. All sense of decorum left Aleksandar. He strode forward, opening his arms and crouching down to sweep the giggling child up into the air.
“Hello, Princess,” he said as Adelaide wrapped herself around his neck like an overgrown spider monkey.
“Oh, Nuncle!” Adelaide said. “I missed you so much.”
“And I missed you,” Aleksandar said, grinning over at a young couple as they approached. “Marcia,” he greeted the pregnant young woman. He reached out and took her hand, leaning over to peck her on the cheek.
“Hello, Uncle,” Marcia said with a dimpled smile. She shook her head, her brunette curls bouncing as she observed Aleksandar. “Goodness, you haven’t changed a bit! Do you ever age?” Her green eyes sparkled as they flickered over to Alicia and Stoyan, who stood behind Aleksandar. Aleksandar beckoned them forward.
“Marcia, you remember Stoyan.”
“Of course,” Marcia said, extending her hand to the driver. “You two are as thick as thieves.”
Stoyan grinned. He took Marcia’s hand and kissed it. “Enchanted,” he said with a small bow. “As always.”
Marcia rolled her eyes at him and turned to Alicia. “And this must be Alicia.” She extended her hand, which Alicia took.
“Goodness,” Marcia said. “You are as beautiful as Aleksandar promised in his letters.”
“Letters?” Alicia asked, turning to Aleksandar in surprise.
“Yes, well,” Marcia said. “Uncle is a bit of a Luddite, and insists on sending hand-written letters, even though email is faster and free.”
Alicia smiled. “That sounds very much like him,” she said. Marcia’s use of ‘uncle’ had taken her by surprise. By all appearances, Marcia was surely Aleksandar’s senior. Perhaps chasing after her daughter had aged her some.
“Letter writing is a lost art,” Aleksandar protested.
“It is indeed,” David agreed. He extended a hand to Aleksandar. “Good to see you again, Aleksandar.”
“And you,” Aleksandar said, smiling. He took David’s hand. “Welcome to America, though how you got here before your plane is a mystery.”
“Just arrived, actually,” David said. “When we got word about the delay, we switched flights. Didn’t want to keep you waiting.”
“That was thoughtful of you,” Aleksandar said. “Though now I’m afraid you’ve been waiting.”
“Not very long,” David assured him.
“Long enough to get your luggage and clear customs,” Aleksandar said.
“Making your timing quite fortuitous.”
Aleksandar grinned. “You remember Stoyan, of course.”
“Yes,” David offered his hand to the driver, who took it.
“And this is Alicia,” Aleksandar said. It did not escape Alicia’s notice that he sounded proud to announce it.
“Wonderful to meet you at long last,” David said, taking Alicia’s hand. “We were all curious about the woman who stole Aleksandar’s heart at long last.”
Alicia flushed as she took David’s hand. “Delighted to meet you,” she said. “Aleksandar has spoken very highly of you all.”
“God, but I’m starving,” Marcia said.
“Excellent. I have a reservation for dinner at my favourite Indian restaurant,” Aleksandar said. “I’m sure they won’t mind if we’re a bit early. Shall we?”
“Yes, please!”
Still holding Adelaide, who was not budging one bit from her full body death grip on him, Aleksandar turned and led the way back to the car. Stoyan relieved Marcia of her luggage, slinging Adelaide’s bright pink backpack over one arm. Free of the extra weight, Marcia took Alicia’s elbow and they walked together behind Aleksandar, David following with Stoyan.
Feeling eyes on him, Aleksandar stopped and turned, scanning the airport crowds with a deep scowl. Marcia and Alicia, deep in conversation, did not notice. Nor did David, who was buried in his smart phone, answering emails. Stoyan, having had the same sensation, stopped beside Aleksandar.
“You felt it too?” he asked his prince quietly in Bulgarian.
“Yes,” Aleksandar answered in kind. He continued to scan the crowd, but could see nothing out of the ordinary.
The sensation of being watched had ceased the moment he had turned around. It did not return when Aleksandar resumed his walk to the car, but the unsettling feeling of having been watched stayed with him throughout the night.
“As asked,” Private Inspector Frederick Davies said to the man across the table from him as he handed over a file. “Everything I’ve found on one Alicia Wilde. Tell you what, it’s a certain kind of thrill, spying on a cop.”
The man ran his thin fingers through his thin blonde hair. Frederick was certain that hair was only straight because of all the grease in it. The man was dressed exactly the same as when he first hired Frederick; a tan trench coat over a tailored suit, a fedora, which now sat on the diner table, and large pilot’s glasses, as if he wanted to imitate a character in an old film noir. Not the craziest client Frederick had ever dealt with, though. There was that man who tried to pay his bill with kittens.
The man opened the file and began to flick through the notes and pictures.
“She’s a pretty girl,” Frederick continued. The blond man made him nervous. “What is she? Your ex? Hoping to catch her out so you don’t have to pay alimony? Tale as old as time.” The blond man glanced up briefly, and Frederick snapped his mouth shut and silently cursed himself. He always ran his mouth when he was nervous.
The file flipped open at a photograph of Alicia with her arms around the neck of a young man, smiling. Also present were a man and a woman and a very young girl.
“That,” Frederick said, “is Aleksandar Svetoslav, the wealthy young heir of the Üstrel fortune who’s making waves in the business community. This was taken at the airport. They were picking up that family.”
The blond man snapped the file shut and looked up at Frederick.
“How do you know that?” he asked in a silken voice with an accent that Frederick guessed was from Eastern Europe.
“Hey,” Frederick said as brightly as his discomfort permitted him. “I’m a PI. I make it my business to know these things.”
That seemed to satisfy the client. “I am impressed, Mr. Davies,” the man said. “This file is very... thorough.”
“Well, I take pride in what I do,” Frederick said.
The man smiled with his lips pressed together. There was no mirth in that smile. Frederick suppressed a shudder.
“So,” the man said. “You want your payment, no doubt.”
“That would be about right,” Frederick said.
The man nodded and reached inside his trench coat and withdrew a fat envelope. He handed it over. “In cash, as promised.”
Hesitating, Frederick reached over the table and briefly checked the cash inside. It looked to be in order. “Thank you,” he said, tucking the money in the inside pocket of his sports jacket. “I normally have to chase people down for payment.” He stood, the man standing with him.
Frederick lifted his brows until he saw the man draw out a packet of cigarettes. A foreign brand; not one he recognised. Placing a cigarette in his mouth, the man retrieved his fedora.
“After you,” he said.
Frederick flashed a smile and exited the diner booth, heading out the door. The man followed. Once outside, the man placed his hat on and fished around one of the pockets of the trench coat. Frederick watched nervously until a lighter made its appearance, emerging from the pocket between the pale fingers of the man. Relaxing, Frederick offered the man his hand.
“Thank you again. If ever you need a competent PI...”
“I will think of you,” the man finished for him, taking his hand in a grip that was a little too tight. “Good day, Mr. Davies.”
The man turned his attention towards trying to light the cigarette in his mouth and Frederick took that as his cue to leave. He stepped away from the diner and crossed the street quickly, feeling better now that there was an entire two lanes of traffic between himself and the strange European man. He glanced back once to spy the man leaning against the wall of the diner, blowing a long stream of smoke from between his lips.
Frederick skipped across a bike path and entered the short alley that would take him out to the markets. Two men rounded the corner at the far end of the alley. One wore the white shirt and dark trousers of a security guard, but his uniform was splattered with something brown and crusty-looking. The other had a torn, dirty hoodie and jeans. Frederick stopped walking. The men stopped walking. They looked at Frederick with blank expressions and strangely empty eyes.
Frowning, Frederick attempted to pass them, but neither man would budge.
“Excuse me,” Frederick said pleasantly, trying again.
Neither man moved and Frederick scowled. “Look pal, I have places to be. You going to move or what?”
Frederick moved forward again. This time, one of the men raised a hand and pushed firmly on Frederick’s chest.
“What the...?!” Frederick demanded as he wheeled back. His sentence was cut off as his back hit something. He spun to find the blond man behind him. The man’s hand shot out, snapping around Frederick’s neck with a grip like a vice. The man lifted Frederick in the air and observed him a moment before slowly removing his sunglasses.
Frederick’s eyes went wide as fear gripped his heart, even as his body went limp in the man’s grasp.
“Good day, Mr. Davies,” the blond man said softly. “It is not such a good day for you, I fear. This will hurt, but you will not make a sound.”
The man stepped forward and pulled Frederick towards him. Frederick felt the tops of his shoes trail along the uneven ground. Though his mind screamed for action, his body did not respond. The blond man smiled. This time he looked amused.
Frederick Davies’ last moments were spent in agony and terror.