Chapter 21
"So am I under arrest?" Alex asked with a huff as the door to the suite closed behind them.
"No, well not yet anyway. It depends whether the director of the WSB likes the answers you give me."
"Oh, great. So you can tell them whatever you want."
"No, like Robert didn't mention I was here, I guess I could have mentioned he's the director."
"You brought in high ranking WSB agents to track me down?"
"No, we're here visiting your niece actually."
"Robin lives here? Oh, I miss her, she is such a sweetheart."
Anna glances at Robert and they share a look saying they both noted the same slight change in Alex's demeanour. "You are not under arrest Alex but you will not be leaving this room either," Robert informed her. "Does anyone know you came here tonight? Will anyone be expecting you to call or return?"
"No, no one knows I'm here." Alex sighed and her shoulders slumped forward, "Do I still get that drink, Robert?"
"Sure what would you like? There's bourbon, brandy and I think there's still some wine."
"Wine would be nice."
"Are you hungry?" Anna asked. "We ate at Robin's."
"I am actually, would you mind ordering me something?"
Anna stepped a little closer to Robert, "We like some of the same foods, stick to chicken and she should be happy. What are we doing now?"
"I am going to go down and book this room for a couple more days and order Alex some dinner. The two of you are going to start talking."
"Don't take too long."
"I'll be right back, Luv." Then Robert turned and left, leaving the two sisters alone staring at each other.
Anna stepped a little closer to Alex, her hands on her hips. "Why are you running?"
"I don't want to go to prison."
"Why do you think you're going to prison?"
"Um, the last time I saw you I was in police custody."
"What happened to you?"
"What is that suppose to mean?"
"Alex cut the crap. What happened? What changed? Where's Alex Devane?" Anna had to repress a slight smile at hearing the words so close to the ones Robert had yelled at her about a month ago come out of her own mouth.
"I'm standing right in front of you."
"Whoever this is it's not my sister. It's not the woman that helped me when I was so close to dying from the seizures I was having. The sister that helped me find out who I really was. The sister that was there for me when my memories back. That held me while I cried for the man that just left this room. Where the hell in my sister?"
"Maybe this is the real me. Maybe this is who I've always been and that other woman was the fraud."
"I don't believe that and neither do you. I know how much you love Dimitri. You wouldn't have left him the way you did unless there was a very good reason."
"What the hell would you know about that?"
"I know about doing whatever it takes to protect the man you love more than any other. I've done it. Hell, he's done it for me!" Anna was right in Alex's face, "You thought you had to walk away from Dimitri to protect him! Why?"
"I don't know what you think or why you can't understand that sometimes marriages don't work. Look at you and Robert."
"What about Robert and I?"
"You two couldn't make it work either."
"You don't know anything about us if that's what you believe." Anna realized Alex was trying to get her worked up. She wanted Anna to be the one on the defensive. "Just so you know if it wasn't for Faison, Robert and I would have celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary in June, there is no doubt in my mind about that. Just like you and Dimitri should have celebrated your 19th earlier this year."
For just a moment there was a softness in Alex's eyes, she knew Anna was right but she couldn't think about that. She didn't trust her voice to not give her away so she remained silent.
Anna saw it and wasn't going to relent, "I guess in a way he's part of the reason for you leaving Dimitri."
"What are you talking about? Faison had nothing to do with that, I don't even know him."
"No, well you haven't known him in a very long time. It was me that got to be the focus of his obsession. You did know him though, even if it was just for a very brief time. I want you to know that he is dead and he can never hurt either of us again."
Alex wanted to stay reserved she didn't want the relief to show but she knew it did. "How?"
"He was shot and killed. I saw the body, I know he's not coming back this time."
Alex turned and walked further into the main room of the suite, she looked around and sat in a chair at the table. Anna let her have a moment to let that news sink in, then she joined her at the table after grabbing a bottle of wine and two glasses. She sat down then pour them both a glass. "Here's to never having to see the crazy bastard again," Anna held up her glass.
Alex looked at her and picked up her glass, "Cheers."
Anna put down her glass and looked at Alex, after a moment she said, "I know the truth Alex. I know what happened, what he did to you."
Alex knew there was no point trying to pretend she didn't know what Anna meant. They might not have grown up together but they still had a connection and right now Anna knew exactly what Alex was feeling and why. "How?" Alex looked at Anna, "How can you know?"
"Well you see there is a memory that I have cherished for forty-one years and you tried to mess with that. You tried to make me believe that the beautiful memory wasn't there. That it didn't mean what it meant. It almost worked, I hadn't thought about it for almost a year."
"I don't understand," Alex said. She was touched by the softness in Anna's voice when she had every right to furious with her.
"What you planted in my mind, for whatever reason, and we will get to that, trust me." Anna and Alex looked at each other and both grinned ever so slightly. "What you planted tried to take away the sweetest memory I have, the most tender and cherished memory of truly being loved for the first time."
"I'm sorry I did that to you. I didn't know what else to do."
"Yeah well I have now gotten to see Robert utterly furious before now and it was directed at me when it happened so thanks for that," Anna said then grinned.
"Sorry, I guess," Alex stopped then asked, "What does Robert have to do with it?"
"My first assignment with him, there were other firsts." Anna leaned towards Alex, "He cherishes that memory as much as I do."
"I never even thought about something like that," Alex covered her mouth. "Are you telling me he yelled at you because you weren't thinking about the first time you two had been together?"
"Well yes but that's not really what it was about. He was yelling at me because if I had a child a year before I met him, if I lied about that, then everything I've ever said to him was a lie. Every moment was tainted. It wasn't just the first time Robert and I made love, it the first time I made love. He knew that without me tell him. He knew and was so gentle, so tender, we had only just met but I already loved him and he loved me."
"Anna I never meant to take something so special away, I just didn't know what else to do." Anna took her hand just as Robert walked in. She looked over at him and he nodded then went into his room. Alex noticed their unspoken communication. "A look that's all you need. I miss that."
"Dimitri still loves you, he doesn't understand why you left him but he does still love you, Alex."
"Have you seen him?" Anna nodded slowly. "I miss him so much Anna," then her tears started.
Anna put her arms around her sister, "I know you do. I know," she said as she rubbed Alex's back letting her cry. When she seemed to gain control again Anna leaned back and took her face in her hands, "We want to help you. That's why I've been looking for you. I know you did what you did because you thought you had no other choice not because you wanted to hurt me."
"I never wanted to hurt you, Anna. I really didn't think it would matter that you believed you might have had another child."
"Well except for the fact that I was a virgin when I apparently had that child," Anna said with a smile and they both started laughing.
"Yeah, I see the problem there. So Robert was angry because I tainted you in some way."
"He was angry because if I'd had a child before meeting him it changed our history completely. He was angry because if I'd ever had sex with Faison then at a very important personal time in our life it meant I had lied to him." Anna sighed, "Shortly after we were remarried Faison was messing with us and using mind control on us both. He made Robert believe he had walked in and found Faison and I in bed together in the thralls of passion. Every time Robert closed his eyes that was what he saw. It was hard but with the help of a hypnotherapist the programming was removed but it was still hard for Robert to even kiss me because he was still seeing me with Faison."
"You told him you had never slept with Faison to help him get past that."
"Yes because it's the truth. There are other little moments that all pointed to either I'm a complete and utter lier or I could not be Peter's mother."
"Peter? I had a son?"
Anna smiled and touched Alex's face, she had forgotten Alex didn't know this part. "Yes, he calls himself Peter August. That's what he changed his name to."
"Why did he have to change his name, Anna? What happened?" Alex already knew whatever she told her it wasn't going to be good.
"The next time you see Valentin I think you will have to try very hard not to kill him."
"What did he do?"
"Did he tell you how he knew about the baby you had?"
"He told me he thought he was following you and that he found out about the baby because of the baby bump I had."
"Just so you know Valentin will never tell you everything. He will always hold back something, a little bit of information that he can use to his advantage later."
"What did he do, Anna?"
"Alex," Anna exhaled, "Peter changed his name because he no longer wanted to go by Henrik Faison. Valentin thought he was hurting me by taking my child to his father. He didn't know the Anna her knew then was actually you. He didn't know what kind of person Faison was and thought he was getting to me by taking the baby to his father. Apparently, he did find out what kind of man Faison was and did try to look out for Peter but he was still raised by Faison."
"That was why I gave him away, why I hid my pregnancy. It wasn't just Charlotte that couldn't know. I never wanted my child to knew his father."
Anna stroked her hand as Alex started to cry, "I know that. You made sure I knew that part."
Robert had gone to his room but only briefly and had come back into the main room. He was just standing back watching them, listening to them talk. They hadn't gotten to the part about why Alec had done what she did, he knew that would come. Hearing them he knew Alex was exactly the person Anna had described and that she was in pain. He couldn't stand here and watch her in this kind of pain. When he walked over to them he all but pulled Alex up into a standing position and hugged her tightly.
Alex buried her face into his chest and let herself cry, she didn't know this man but she felt comforted by his actions, she knew he cared just by his embrace. When she had recovered a little, "Wrong sister," she said into his chest.
"No, you're not. Anna isn't the one whose heart is breaking because she just found out her child was raised by that monster," he said as he gently rubbed her back. "I think it's time to take a little break, your dinner should be up soon."