Page 59 of Bratva Butcher

“The reason why you’re so consumed by her. It’s because you have feelings for her.”

I scoffed, the ludicrousness of such a statement making me shake my head. “You’re out of your mind.”

Yekaterina stared at me, not allowing me to look away from her.“Think about it. Why do you think you get so excited when she’s close to you? Why does your heart beat that little bit faster when she looks at you? Why does the idea of another man touching her make you want to cut his hands off?”

That was the problem with arguing with a figment of your imagination. They knew your deepest, darkest secrets. Things about yourself that you yourself didn’t even know. Things you were trying to ignore.

“So, what are you trying to say? That I love her or something?”

She rolled those mesmerising crystal blue eyes, getting to her feet.“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course you don’t love her. Youbarely know her.”She moved to stand over Autumn, staring down at her with a small smile on her lips, almost as if the words she was about to utter made her happy.“But youlikeher.”

“Ihateher.”

“You hate herbecauseyou like her. There’s a difference. Sure, at the start, it might have all been hate. But throughout the time that has been forced upon you, you’ve come to admire her. Her strength. Her bravery. Her tenacity.”

“Even if what you’re saying is true, and I don’t entirely believe that it is, it doesn’t mean anything. Nothing will ever happen,” I said, refusing to even allow the notion, theideaof something romantic blossoming between me and Autumn.

“Let me ask you something.”She turned to face me, crossing her arms over her chest.“Do you think the real Yekaterina—the real one, not the one you’ve made up in your head” —she waved her hands up and down her ghostly form to signify herself—“Do you think she would want this for you?”

I squeezed my hands into tight fists. “It doesn’t matter what she would have wanted.She’s dead.”

Sadness streaked across her face.“She would want you to be happy, Dima. You know that.”

I gritted my teeth and turned away from her.Of course I know that. I knew that with one hundred percent certainty because it was something Yekaterina and I had discussed previously.

She’d said repeatedly that if anything ever happened to her, she’d want me to move on. To be happy. To remember her, but let someone else in.

She’d made me promise to do it.

And I did.

But I didn’t fucking mean it.

“I never thought I’d say this to you, but I want you to go away.” I couldn’t handle what she was saying to me. I didn’t want to hear it anymore.

“I can’t do that.”

“What do you mean ’you can’t do that’?’” I asked, frowning. “You’re a figment ofmyimagination, aren’t you? That meansIcontrol you. And I’m telling you to go.”

She smiled, but there was nothing happy about it. It was drenched in sadness. In pity.“That’s not the way it works. There’s only one way to get me to leave you alone.”

“And that would be?”

“Confront yourself.”

Confront myself?“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means—”

A bright, blinding light blasted through the room. I winced, raising my arm up to shield my eyes. After a few seconds, when I lowered my arm back down and my eyes had adjusted, Yekaterina was gone.

For once, I was thankful. Our conversation was making me uneasy.

Autumn groaned. She sat up slowly, groggily rubbing her eyes. “What’s going on?”

I didn’t answer her because I didn’t know. It couldn’t possibly be morning yet. Lights out was only a few hours before.

I watched Autumn as she got to her feet and stretched out her body, studying her very closely. Since her true identity had been revealed, I’d been feeling like such an idiot.How could I have not put it together?She was The Crimson Death. One of the most renowned and feared assassins in the world. Her exploits were fucking legendary.

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