A Serial Killer's Guide to Finding a Dead Husband

Chapter Nine: Who's the Bride

Charlotte walks out of the store with a few samples of the flowers that she was planning on using as a centerpiece for the tables, and also picked up a few candles to test their scents and choose the one best fit for the whole theme of the party. Charlotte sent the pictures of the flowers to Akardi and again asked why there was no response from the bride on the whole theme of the event. They said that the bride was informed on the arrangements of the party and that she didn't have to worry about her involvement because the bride is fully involved in the arrangements of the party. Denial is a river in Egypt, the bride is being forced to marry the guy. Charlotte didn't have a hunch anymore, she was sure. What did she expect? Maksim was related to the Mafia. There was no way that he would be marrying for love. Charlotte was curious now. The urge to meet the bride was growing stronger minute by minute and she wasn't able to control it anymore. It was time to start her own research now. Thinking boards were drawn the whole night but Charlotte was not able to find who the person he was marrying. No daughter of any influential person was getting married which led Charlotte to believe that maybe the person Maksim was marrying was one of the unfortunate, but her research was not linking anyone to Maksim. It was a dead end. Charlotte's urge to find out who Maksim was marrying grew even stronger. Charlotte did want to admit defeat, but she had to, since there was no other way to do so other than wait for the engagement party, so, that was what Charlotte did. She helped in the menu and some other arrangements and other than that, Charlotte kept her involvement minimal to not seem as more involving and coming off as snoopy.

Finally, the day of the engagement party came. Charlotte had picked her dress and was getting ready when she got a text from Akardi, who said that his wife wanted to meet her before the party. Charlotte had completely forgotten about Akardi's wife. It would seem impolite not to know anything about her, but she was unable to look her up due to the time, but she didn't want to go meet her not knowing anything, so she missed her water line and looked her up. Diana Aleksandr. She wasn't the daughter of anyone influential nor did her family owe anyone, anything, but they both married for love. Love like that can exist for someone like Akardi since someone like Charlotte also hoped that she would one day be able to find someone she could settle down with. Diana was just a beautiful black, English woman, who had all the qualities of being the perfect wife. The first being not a serial killer, something Charlotte was lacking desperately. Akardi told Charlotte that Diana was waiting at a cafe, and that she should go meet her before the party. Charlotte wasn't the best dressed for a tea party right now, but there was so much she could've done to avoid this last minute meeting. Akardi sent Charlotte the location and Charlotte forwarded it to her driver. On to another headache.

Charlotte walked into the cafe and Diana was already sipping on some tea. Rude to invite someone for tea and start drinking without them. Charlotte went on over and said her greetings. Diana was extremely polite and apologized for such a last minute meeting, but she desperately wanted to meet Charlotte to discuss something. Diana stressed that Akardi and Maksim were not revealing anything about the bride, and that she was worried that he was marrying someone against their will. Diana told Charlotte that in the Aleksandr family, no one was allowed to marry for equity based reasons. Akardi's parents, and even their grandparents, married for love, but it wasn't the same in the Shostakovich family. Maksim was Akardi's cousin from his mother's side, and they didn't have such rules or traditions, but Diana always wanted Maksim to marry for love, so she had found someone to set Maksim up with, and that they even started dating but one day, Maksim just announced his engagement. Charlotte was surprised at the fact that even Diana was kept in the dark. Maybe they really were forcing someone to marry them. Charlotte asked Diana if she stresses that marrying for love means that both the people are in love and not that only Maksim had to like her. Diana simply answered that Maksim wasn't dumb and knew what marrying for love means. Charlotte understood Diana's frustration self. Even she was frustrated herself. At this point, she told Diana, that thay could only wait till the engagement and it's not like it was faraway. It would be starting in a few hours and Diana agreed. They both left together for the event which was to be held at the Shostakovich Manor, situated a little far from the main part of the city, and more in the farmland areas of the city's boundaries. Charlotte loved secluded houses as such. She always wanted to buy a house that she could just relax in without having to listen to car horns all day, but she wanted to have someone by her side to do so. Amongst all, Charlotte didn't forget about Niall. Niall was still one of her most major priorities, and finding out about his safety was her main goal that night. Maksim did say that Niall was alright, and that he would be at the event. Charlotte only hoped that it wasn't him that cooked that evening. You can never trust people like the Shostakovich. They may seem off as hinged, down to earth people, but they are known to have the most psychotic family heads in the history of the cartels. Pretty scary stuff, and Charlotte still couldn't believe that she sold her friend to people like them. She prayed for the heavens all the way that Niall was alright and that he wasn't put through anything bad. But she could only do just that, until she meets Niall himself, which would not be long from now.