Page 158 of Bratva Butcher

Then, I started packing it all up.

It took me hours, and although I knew she couldn’t hear me, I spoke to Yekaterina the whole time as if she could, putting all her clothes, shoes and miscellaneous items away. I boxed them up with tenderness and care, giving them the respect they deserved.

It wasn’t only Yekaterina’s belongings I packed away. It was all of mine, too. Everything from my previous life went with her because that was where it all belonged. I was no longer that man. He died with her, and he deserved to be buried with her.

Illayana had swung by, offering to help, but I told her it was something I had to do on my own. Something Ineededto do on my own.

I gave her the option to take anything she wanted of her mother’s. With tears in her eyes, she’d chosen some jewellery and a dark blouse.

By the time I was finished, the sun had long since set along the horizon. Darkness fell, blanketing the house in an ominous aura that fit my mood. It had been a long, strenuous day, filled with so much emotional turmoil that I was absolutely exhausted.

But as I stood in the doorway, staring back into the empty room, I felt…lighter. Like a giant weight had been lifted off my shoulders, that pressure that had been squeezing my heart for the last ten years finally gone.

I looked around, my gaze travelling from wall to wall as a wave of nostalgia washed over me. It was something I never thought would happen. A moment that I always thought was out of my reach. Something I was incapable of.

But I was there.

Yekaterina appeared in the centre of the room, her face lit up with the biggest smile I’d ever seen and tears in her eyes.

I smiled back. “Goodbye, Yekaterina.”

She closed her eyes and tilted her head up to the sky. Her ghostly form faded away into the night.

And I knew that would be the last time I ever saw her.

The next day, I sat in the lounge room, staring at my phone. I’d been there, in that exact same position only a week before, trying to figure out what to message Autumn.

How the hell did I fuck things up so badly?!

I wanted to bloody shoot myself.

I’d tossed and turned all night, wondering how I was going to fix things not only with Autumn, but my son.

There was no excuse for what I did to either of them. For the things I said to herandhim. For putting my hands on Lukyan the way I did. I had to make it right with both of them.

The first thing I did when I woke up was find Lukyan and apologise. He’d shrugged and said it was fine, but it didn’t take me long to notice the change in him. I’d crushed my son’s spirit. He was no longer the same, and it was all my fault.

All my damn fucking fault.

I needed to fix it. Needed to get that crushed, hurt look out of his eyes. But I had no idea how.

Then, there was Autumn.

She’d be well within her right to shoot me on sight if she saw me again, and I feared she just might. That didn’t trouble me. It was the fact that she might kill me before I even got the chance to apologise that worried me so much.

The best thing to do was to call her and hope she gave me a second to explain myself. If she didn’t, then I would hunt her down andforceher to listen to me. I’d just have to make sure she didn’t have any weapons in her hands.

I blew out a breath.Here goes nothing. I pressedcall.

An automated message came through. “This number is unavailable.”

“What?” I muttered under my breath. The damn thing didn’t even ring. Shaking my head, sure it must have been some sort of error, I tried again.

And again.

And again.

The same thing continued to happen, and I almost flung the phone across the room.

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