Chapter198 Murder charge

Chapter198 Murder charge
Aliya POV
The next morning, I woke up exhausted and immediately saw Nikolai on his phone, contacting various people to announce the news of our upcoming wedding. I quickly reached over and stopped him.

"Even if you want to tell people, shouldn't we at least wait until we have a date set?" I asked.

Nikolai looked at me with that enthusiastic expression he got when he was excited. "Weddings require a lot of preparation, baby. It's never too early to start getting people organized."

"When are you planning for us to get married?" I asked.

Nikolai immediately wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. "How about tomorrow?"

I gave him an exasperated look. "You just said weddings require a lot of preparation."

"But I really can't wait to marry you," he said earnestly. "I want to announce to the whole world that you're my luna."

Then his expression became more serious as he studied my face. "You're not going to run away again, are you?"

"Of course not," I said firmly. "This time I'm ready to be your mate."

Just then, Victor's voice suddenly appeared in both our minds through a mind link that connected all three of us.

"So I hear you two are getting married. Congratulations," Victor said.

"Dear brother," Nikolai replied through the link, "I already know about your help with Aliya leaving three years ago."

Victor sounded slightly guilty. "You know about that?"

"Aliya told me herself," Nikolai said.

I interrupted their conversation. "Victor, is there something you need to tell us?"

"Right. Look, I don't really want to interrupt you two lovebirds and your wedding happiness, but there's something you need to know. The Stonecreeks have filed a lawsuit against Aliya."

Both Nikolai and I were shocked into silence.

"Why?" Nikolai asked.

"They're charging her with murder. Marcus's murder."

The weight of those words settled over us like a heavy blanket.

Nova wandered into the room at that moment, looking curious about why we both seemed so tense.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

I picked her up and kissed her forehead, forcing a smile. "Nothing's wrong, sweetheart. Everything's fine."

Nikolai turned to me with concern in his eyes. "Did you destroy all the evidence from back then?"

"I destroyed all the direct evidence," I said carefully, keeping my voice low so Nova wouldn't understand.

Nikolai nodded, processing this information. "Okay. That's good."

"The problem isn't whether they can win in court," I explained, my mind already working through the potential consequences. "They probably can't prove anything legally. But they'll definitely win in the court of public opinion, and that's what we need to handle quickly."

"You're right," Nikolai agreed. "Public perception can be just as damaging as a legal conviction, especially for someone in my position."

I could already see the headlines in my mind, the way the media would twist the story, the way people would speculate and gossip. Even if we won the case, the damage to both our reputations could be severe.

"How much time do we have before this becomes public?" I asked Victor through the mind link.

"Not much," he replied. "They filed the paperwork yesterday. Once the media gets hold of it, which could be any day now, it's going to explode."

I looked down at Nova, who was still in my arms, playing with a strand of my hair and humming softly to herself. She had no idea that our world was about to be turned upside down again.

"We need to get ahead of this," I said to Nikolai. "Control the narrative before someone else does."

"What do you suggest?"

"First, we need to prepare our legal defense, even though I don't think they have a real case. Second, we need to craft our public response very carefully."

"And third?" Nikolai asked.

I looked at Nova again, my heart breaking a little. "Third, we need to protect the people we love from getting caught in the crossfire."

Nikolai followed my gaze to Nova and immediately understood. "You're thinking we should send her somewhere safe."

"Just until this blows over," I said quickly. "I don't want her to be exposed to any of this ugliness."

"Where would she go?"

"My parents," I said. "They adore her, and they're far enough away from all this drama. She'd be safe there."

"And they'll take good care of her until this is over."

I looked at Nova with apologetic eyes. "Sweetheart, I need to take you to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days."