Chapter 421: Into The Fire, Give You All I Got

[FROLO]

The investigation into the woman who had been standing beside Rastenkin did not match the papers that Alek had gotten under that pillow.

For all he could figure out, the woman was real. She had been real all this time.

Which made the realization even harsher because if she had existed all this time, where the hell had she been? Who the fuck had they buried and held funerals for?

It made no sense, really.

Because at the end of the day, Aleksandr had been played once before. So even with stacked documents that proved otherwise, he was tempted to lean into what he had learned with Joe.

Then again, he’d been holding on for a while. Trying to figure out what the hell had gone so wrong with the woman. How she had been here all this time.

And desperate to get his own answers, Alek went to the prosecution building himself.

He had to see it.

To see her.

To watch how she reacted to him.

To see if she recognized him. Because honestly, he wasn’t going to settle for anything this time. A lot had already happened, and he would not let this be one of the things that got lost in the light.

"Alek, it’s dangerous," Kenzo tried to reason with him like the world itself was waiting and holding its breath. Maybe that was what his life had become, but what were the odds, right?

"I work for the government now. And I said I’d deal with the Moskowskys. I’m just going there to do my job. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?" Alek insisted like he didn’t know...

As if that prosecution building couldn’t easily be his grave and no one could save him. It was a lot for him to think of at the moment, but perhaps in the middle of it all there had to be a better explanation.

That was what he was going for anyway.

"Be careful. Word on the streets is that the Moskowskys and Romanovs are planning to unite. You know it won’t be easy if the Romanovs join, right?" Kenzo said, the reminder lingering.

He knew Alek was desperate.

Hell, even he was desperate.

But he had to be rational with it all. He had to make sure things went well because otherwise there was no telling what they were walking into.

Rastenkin was the face that Alek would never forget.

The face that haunted Aleksandr even if he refused to admit it.

He knew a part of Alek was this triggered because of the shopkeeper. But emotions in a business like theirs were a liability, and Kenzo had to make sure Alek was right in the head.

Especially with that woman.

So many things didn’t add up.

It wasn’t like there was a better way for them to figure it out, but Aleksandr going into the den of the Moskowskys just to confirm a ghost from their past was dangerous. And he needed to be sure Alek was ready.

Really ready.

"Again, I’ll be fine. Besides, you heard them. If we want to prosecute everyone who was mentioned in the releases, we will have to go in and talk to them properly unless you want me to go to Moskowsky Holdings," Alek challenged.

Kenzo sighed.

This wasn’t good.

But Alek was also right.

They would eventually interact with Mrs. Smirnova one way or the other. Maybe it was this soon, but gods was it a dangerous thing to do still.

"I’m coming with you, no arguments," Kenzo said, and Alek just sighed. But he didn’t say no either.

At the prosecution building, the Moskowsky office was buzzing with legal officers who were working on the accusations made against the Moskowskys and Katya Romanov.

The focus was especially on Katya’s terrorism charges because those were the dumbest charges either of them had ever had to see. But still, they had to clear them. And make sure that wasn’t a stain on Katya’s stellar reputation.

That was the order they had received from Sergei.

Industrial espionage with Svet and Andre was only espionage if the Moskowskys filed for it.

Which they were not going to.

So when Aleksandr knocked on their door, when the former senator stood in the doorway like a man who was on a mission, many were not surprised or even impressed.

To them, he was just another person in the city. Someone who had legal issues with the Moskowskys. It didn’t matter that he was powerful or even that he had been the one to make the accusations.

What mattered was that life was changing. Things were being redirected, and everyone’s focus was on something they considered important.

"Please join the queue, sir," the lady at the reception desk said, and Alek stiffened.

He’d not expected that he’d be made to wait.

He was Aleksandr Petrovsky.

He was the former senator and the man currently tasked with making sure there was justice for the people Sergei had murdered.

He never waited. So what the hell was this supposed to mean for him?

"I am—"

"The queue, sir. You’re causing traffic," the secretary said firmly, and Alek looked at Kenzo, who had a small smile playing on his lips.

The Moskowskys were on another level for this. But then again, regardless of how things got, this was easily the wildest shit he’d ever seen.

"Fine," Alek huffed as he sat on the waiting benches.

He watched as people lined up and as the queue went by agonizingly slow.

It was almost like he was being made to wait on purpose, but at the same time, the Moskowskys always had different clients. They had people who wanted their help in the legal department since they were the best.

For two hours Alek sat there on the bench and waited. He had to wait because he’d seen the woman walk around like she didn’t know him. Like she didn’t know their past.

Or maybe she was just not in the mood to deal with the alpha and his madness this morning. But was that supposed to be comforting?

Gods, Alek was impatient.

"Mr. Petrovsky," he heard his name called by the receptionist, and Kenzo got up with him.

"Booth nine, sir," the receptionist said, not even bothering to ask Aleksandr what he was there for.

Sighing, Alek walked with Kenzo to Booth Nine.

The case desk.

What the fuck were these people doing pretending like they didn’t know why Aleksandr had come here today? Was this some sort of joke for them? Was this the kind of life they were leading?

"These lit—" Alek grumbled, but Kenzo held him steady.

"If someone takes our spot, we don’t know how long we’ll have to wait here. So let’s just get this over and done with," Kenzo sighed, and Alek groaned.

This was disrespect of the highest order, and he would not forget this.

Then again, even if he didn’t forget, did the Moskowskys care that much about his opinion?

"Sir, please state your business with the law office of Moskowsky Group," the person there said, and Alek held back a groan.

This humiliation was definitely intentional.

There was no other excuse for it at this point. Because what the hell was Aleksandr supposed to make of this then?

"We need to talk to Mrs. Smirnova about the ongoing Moskowsky vs Government case," Alek said, forcing himself to be rational.

He could tell that no one in this office cared as much about his opinion. And that they wouldn’t give two shits if he was down for whatever or not.

They were doing their jobs.

"Mrs. Smirnova’s office is on the sixth floor, sir. Not here... Did you not ask the receptionist about it?" the woman asked, and Alek clenched his hands.

He was not going to play this game with the Moskowskys.

They’d been waiting here for two hours.

Two hours for a chance to talk to the woman they’d been seeing walk around the office. And suddenly her office was on a different floor?

The woman had once walked out the door, so what kind of a game was this?

Alek didn’t like it.

At all.

But once again, he had to remind himself that at the end of the day, there had to be better ways of communicating and that violence inside a Moskowsky building was the dumbest thing he could ever do.

"Which room?" Alek gritted.

"Directly above this one," the woman said before looking behind the duo.

"Next, please," she said while Alek and Kenzo were still seated there.

Begrudgingly, Aleksandr got up, the humiliation burning through his body as he struggled to remind himself that this was for the best. That this was just the day when things got a little complicated, but he could handle it.

That this was the day he had to be a good Frolo citizen.

Gods, it was tiring, no doubt, but what the hell, right?

Sighing, Alek and Kenzo walked out, took the stairs, ignored the beeping elevator, and went to the next floor.

Then they got to the office with the same setting.

"I am not sitt—" Alek began, only for the receptionist to look at him with a polite smile.

"Mrs. Smirnova has been waiting for you, sir," the woman said, and Alek let out a sigh of relief.

Maybe this time he wouldn’t be as tired of waiting like he did on the other floor. But at the same time, patience was something he was learning the hard way in this building too.

"Third office to the left," the receptionist said, and Alek sighed.

Still, he went.

After all, he was the one with a need for answers, right?

He was the one who wanted to make things a little easier to understand.

"Door’s open, Daniil. Come in, we’ve been expecting you."

Rastenkin Vladimirovich was here.