Page 6 of Shattered Empire (Shattered World)

“He wasn’t planning to divorce you, Ava,” Vas murmured, his eyes softening as he looked at me. “Yes, Ben drew up the paperwork before…” He trailed off.

“Before what, Vasily?” I hissed at him, my throat clenching as a sob threatened to tear through it. “Before he took Serena to the gala? Before he kissed her?” I let that sink in, noting the shame that crossed his face. “Or maybe it was before he told Liam that as soon as the gala was over, we were finished. That all he needed from me was information.”

Vas took in a long breath, his hand running down his face. He let out a frustrated sigh, his jaw working, teeth grinding as he tried to put whatever he was going to say together in his head before he spoke aloud.

“It isn’t what you think, Ava,” he pressed, but I was done with secrets. Done with the lies. Whatever game Matthias had been playing was over.

It didn’t matter anymore.

“Why don’t you explain it to your newPakhanthen, Vasily,” I growled. Tomas choked and spluttered on the coffee he meant to drink. Instead, tears gathered at the corners of his bright eyes as he struggled to breathe while hoarse laughter poured from his lips.

Vas stared at me, a sadness lining his face that I’d never noticed before. His hazel eyes darkened slightly, hands twisting anxiously in front of him. His foot tapped a quiet staccato rhythm beneath the table, his knee bouncing just enough to see.

What was he hiding?

“I can’t,” he breathed regretfully. “But I can tell you that the whole thing with Serena was an act. It wasn’t real.”

The corner of my lip turned up in a snarl. “Sure as hell felt real to me.”

“And I wish it hadn’t.”

“If Matthias wasn’t eagerly trying to get rid of me and fuck the Jessica Rabbit look-alike, then what did he need her for?”

“Information.” Vas swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing beneath the pale skin of his throat. He wasn’t lying, but there was more to his story. He was loyal to Matthias, even in death.

“What kind of information?” Didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try and pry it from him.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Gotta say,” I breathed out harshly. “You sure are loyal to a dead man.”

Vas smirked. “We all are.”

Which meant I wouldn’t be getting any information from the other men in his circle either. I would be lying if I said all the cloak and dagger shit didn’t bother me. It did. Made my skin itch and my stomach burn like acid. Even in death, they were more loyal to Matthias than they would ever be to me.

Not that I expected anything different. Respect and loyalty were earned. Matthias taught me that. And even though we’d been married, and they knew me, had fought for me when my husband thought I betrayed him—I still needed to show them they could rely on me as much as I relied on them.

Silence fell over the table as the three of us sat with our own thoughts. Vasily looked as if he wanted to say more, but his promise to his friend, hisbrother, was holding him back. Out of all the scenarios I went through on how our conversation would go, this was not one I envisioned.

Pakhan.

I was now the most powerful woman in the city. The first female to ever lead a faction of theBratvain mafia history. There was an army at my back who were all just as bloodthirsty to see Matthias’s death avenged as I was. Hell, probably even more.

That gave me power.

True power. Something Christian would never have.

I thought back to the horrid night. The night the one I called sister shot the man I’d fallen in love with. The man who’d shown no sign of loving me back. The man who adamantly stated he was incapable of loving me. It was a weakness. He was also the man who’d taken the bullet for me.

He was right. I was his weakness, and I was the reason he was dead.

I shut that shit down real quick.

Kenzi was the reason he was dead.

Kenzi and Christian and all those who plotted to take his empire. She’d been aiming for me, but I wondered now if she knew Matthias would jump in front of me to take the bullet. Killing me did nothing. Killing the leader of theBratvain Seattle could have potentially destabilized the underground hierarchy, causing chaos and disruption.

Disruptions that would have been easy enough for Christian to slink in and take advantage of, but he’d never be able to hold on to that power. There wasn’t enough left of Elias’s empire to successfully keep control of the underground. That did not mean he didn’t have help.

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