CHAPTER 34

Life was dull for Francis.

And not just for him, but for the entire work building. He soon discovered that, even though they bitched and moaned about Alice's behavior, they could hardly function without her. Everything about the world seemed more gray without the bossy detective. People moved slower and snapped at each other more harshly than usual.

Alfred had been taking it especially hard.

The American hardly talked to anyone besides Francis, as he was the only one who understood what he was going through. Alfred ate normal proportion sizes, which was equivalent to nearly starving himself.

To his credit, Alfred did try to remain cheerful and strong, but not knowing what was happening to his sister while a serial killer was after her was killing him. He often talked about quitting his job to go stay with Alice until everything had settled down, but Alfred knew that Alice would never accept that, so he didn't.

No headway had been made on the Kirkland case or the serial killings, but there was no surprise there. Not for Alfred and Francis, at least. For the first time in a while, Francis felt hatred.

Hatred for the imbéciles who thought they could handle the cases by themselves. Who did they think they were? Not only were they both Alice's cases first, but they had absolutely no idea how to handle it. And don't even get him started on the fact that they had no slight suspicion that the two cases were connected.

He realized, with a startling jolt, just how Alice must've felt, being surrounded by these people.

She must've been so lonely. She had Alfred, yes, but even he was no where near her level. Alice was always working by herself, too. The Englishwoman had been cold to him when they'd first met, but Francis was sure it was because she was sick of having her heart broken, now that he knew of her past. Alice had been treated like merde by the people she loved. Mainly being her parents, her ex fiance and siblings.

Ex fiance…

He remembered their second near-kiss. Another course of irritation shot through him. He'd made sure to not give the babysitter a tip that night.

Her chapped lips brushing his still ran through his mind.

Alice smelt of liquor and cigarettes. It was a shocking, not very feminine smell, but it was Alice, and Francis loved Alice.

It was a bold declaration, even for him.

He'd only told a few people in his life that he loved them, despite his mission to spread amour. Alice was different. He wanted to tell someone, anyone, that he was in love. It hurt to keep his feelings bottled up inside him. Francis wanted to the world to know that he was in love with Alice Kirkland, the not very-feminine, eccentric Englishwoman.

Francis had been on and off the fence on what to do with his new-found information for a while, now.

But after the second almost kiss, he knew. Francis would ask her out to a nice dinner and dance and yes, he would be clear that it was indeed a date. He wasn't going to beat around the bush anymore. He was nearly sure she felt the same way about him that he felt about her.

Mathew would approve, Francis was sure.

His son liked Alice, a lot, actually. He loved listening to her play the violin and read stories to him. It was surprising how quickly the three had bonded in just a week.

Matthew had become bolder, as playing the violin was constantly pushing his tight little shell. He'd made his liking of Alice very, very clear to his papa. Matthew used to purposely sit on the ends of the sofa, forcing the two to sit together. When they had gone on walks, he would take Francis' hand in one of his and Alice's in the other.

But, now… Matthew didn't nearly smile as much as he used to and his papa found himself feeling the same way.

XXX

Alfred felt like dying.

That was a slight exaggeration, of course, but just slightly. He couldn't sleep, knowing that Alice was all by herself in some dingy, disgusting apartment. Defenseless and being hunted. Hunted. He remembered the gutted bodies of Isabella, Olivia and Vanessa. Deep, terrifying shudders coursed through him every time he thought about them.

What if Alice ended up like that?

Alfred remembered her face the last time they saw each other, when she'd told him that she was on the killer's hit list. She tried to hide her fear, she always did, but it didn't work. Not on Alfred. He had known and grown up with her for twenty fucking years and she still tried to put on brave faces around him.

For him.

It pissed him off whenever she did that. Her shaky, wide green eyes had avoided his gaze slightly. She looked haggard, tired and angry. Angrier than he'd ever seen her before. Whatever she knew, whatever treacherous secrets that she'd learned about the killer…they were slowly eating away at her. Alice never said anything unless she was sure about it.

She was sure she was going to die.

That enough was all Alfred needed to run out of his home and find Alice and hide her for the rest of her life. "Dorogoy?" Ivan poked his head into the room, concern etched on his pale face. He was wearing an informal black and white tux. "Are you ready yet?"

"Oh, yeah." Alfred gave his boyfriend a wide smile. "I'm ready whenever you are, hun."

It was date night and it was Ivan's turn to pay for dinner, but Alfred wasn't in the mood. The Russian observed his boyfriend carefully as they rode in the cab. His violet eyes narrowed in irritation and worry. Not at the American, no, never. But at Alice and this serial killer. When Alice had been shot, he'd been seriously pissed off because it ended up making Alfred skip at least five meals and Ivan had nearly worried himself to death when his lover didn't come home from work that day.

Still, he knew he couldn't blame Alice for that.

However, he could blame her for telling Alfred about this serial killer after her. The information had been slowly dragging Alfred down, covering him in a syrup of depression and anxiety. Ivan still remembered the first time Alice and him had met, officially.

The atmosphere was thick between the Brit and the Russian. Alfred had dragged the both of them into a meeting and then suddenly said he had to go to the bathroom and left the two strangers to deal with one another.

Ivan didn't like the woman in front of him. He'd been dating Alfred for a year and he had told Ivan about how his sister (who wasn't actually related to him by blood or was even his sister, at all) had disappeared. He had to pick up the pieces when she left and now she was back, and for what? Did she plan on stealing Alfred back, ha, ad zamerznet, prezhde chem Ivan nad pozvolit' etomu sluchit'sya.

Alice could feel bullets of sweat run down her back as the tall, dark Russian man glared at her. "…So, you've been dating Alfred for a while now…" She attempted an ice breaker.

"Da." Ivan glowered at her, "For a year now. And I love him and he loves me."

Ah. So that's what this was about. She could feel her body relax. "That's good to hear," Alice gave him a genuine smile. "I'm glad you make him happy. All his past boyfriends have been a bunch of duds; you know? You must be someone very special."

"Da." Ivan didn't know how to feel about that comment. She sounded like a protective mother, but she was giving off the feelings of…permission? Kakogo cherta?

"I don't see why you're getting so defensive," shrugged Alice, "I don't love Alfred in that way. We've always been brother and sister. If you want proof, I can show you my engagement ring."

"You're getting married?" Ivan felt a huge sense of relief.

"No," a pained look danced across her face for a moment. "No, he and I…I broke off the engagement. Listen, I'm going to be perfectly upfront with you."

Ivan felt his back straighten and an evil aura surround him…

Until he noticed the even bigger one surrounding the blonde woman in a cloud of dark, dangerous gloom. "If you want to date my brother, fine, but if I hear any word of you harming him or making him upset in anyway, I will destroy you." The aura dissipated, but there still was a terrifying smirk on her face and an even worse glint in her bright eyes. She looked like a demon. "So, we have an understanding, yeah?"

By the end of it all, the giant man was shivering in fear, nodding his head furiously.