Page 83 of Shattered Empire (Shattered World)

The deeper I fell, the deeper the wound would be if either of those two things came to pass. I knew I had to face my fear of that, but it was often simpler to ignore it. I wanted Ava. There was no doubt in that. And I loved her. But showing her that love gave her access to a vulnerability I wasn’t ready to exploit.

“You’re scared,” Kenzi taunted me. “It’s written all over your face.”

“Easy,malen’kiy ubiytsa,” Andrei cautioned. Even he could see how thin the rope was and that it was about to snap.

“Why?” she snarled. “My sister loves you. Even now, in your death, and you can’t muster up the balls to face her. Why? Huh? What are you so afraid of?”

“Don’t push me, Kenzi.” My face darkened as I stared down at her.

“I’m not afraid of you, Matthias,” she sneered. “I stopped being afraid a long time ago. You don’t want to face her? Fine. I’ll do it for both of us.”

“Shit,” Maksim cursed. He reached out to grab her the moment he saw her body shift into gear, but he was too late. She was a slippery assassin, that was for sure.

“Dammit.” Running a hand through my lengthening hair, I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. “Fuck.” Deep breaths, I coached myself, deep breaths.

“She’s right, though.” Andrei spoke up from beside me. “Not about you being afraid of her rage. But you do need to face her.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Andrei smiled sadly. “You’re afraid your love for her will ruin you both.” His eyes were brimming with sadness and loss. “You’ve been hurt time and time again. I can see that. Iknowthat. But you can’t hide behind that wall forever, Matthias. At some point in time, it’s going to have to crumble. Give yourself the chance to truly love her. Because if you don’t, you’ll lose her for good, and it won’t be to death.”

His hand clamped on my shoulder and squeezed.

“Think about that,moy syn.” Then he left.

Moy syn.

My son.

He’d called me his son.

“Hey, boss.” Dima interrupted my thoughts. The pride that welled in my chest at being called Andrei Tkachenko’s son. He’d told me he would earn the right to be called father. It would appear I didn’t have to earn the right to be called his son, and that broke a piece of the wall I had so carefully constructed when I was younger. “You might want to catch up with Kenzi. She took your Martin.”

“Point?”

“Umm…your wife is currently hauling ass after her?”

Shit.

“Tell Vas. And make sure Sully shuts down the police radios. I don’t want them being followed.”

“Got it.”

Badass indeed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The rain was pouring down from the open sky, lightning flashing across its star-dotted surface by the time I caught up to the pair. It was lucky for me that my Aston Martin had GPS, otherwise I would never have thought to look in such a desolate place.

The barn was old and decrepit and eerily familiar. Wood beams lay carelessly in the overgrown grass that had turned brown without constant care. It could barely be called a structure. More like a skeleton of the past.

How had Kenzi known about this place?

“If I’m a psycho,” Ava’s voice drifted through the open doorway, her pain seeping through the howl of the wind to pierce straight through my heart, “you made me so by murdering my husband. The one man who cared for me.”

I did care for her.

Even if I hadn’t always shown it.

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