Page 103 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

“Why would I lie to you?”

“Because you’re trying to manipulate me,” I suggest. “Or maybe just because you’re a huge asshole.”

He smiles savagely. “If I were trying to manipulate you, I’d fuck you again. That’s when you really let your guard down.”

My cheeks flush with embarrassment. I back away from him.

It’s ridiculous for me to assume Aleks doesn’t sense the connection between us. He notices everything, and the sexual tension crackles venomously at all times. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

But I can’t be the only one it affects so profoundly. Not with the way he looks at me, eyes both feral and filled with lust. Like he wants to own me and destroy me in the same breath.

That should terrify me. But all it does is make my breath come faster and my body tingle harder. Even now, I’m trembling. And it has nothing to do with the conversation we’re having.

It should. But it doesn’t.

And I hate myself for it.

That in and of itself is a betrayal to my brother and my family. My only solace is in resisting it. I have to if I’m going to come out of this in one piece on the other side.

One year.

God, it sounds like a lifetime.

“And if we both do what you want?” I ask. “I ask the question, my brother gives the answer, I report back to you. Then what?”

“You’ll get back your freedom and your brother will continue being a dedicated servant of the law.”

I shake my head at his caustic sarcasm. “You don’t know him at all, do you?”

“No, and I don’t care to.”

“His job means everything to him,” I explain, even though I wasn’t asked. “He does it because he genuinely wants to make a difference.”

Aleks rolls his eyes. “Is this supposed to impress me?”

“It’s supposed to make you understand that my brother will never be able to look at his job or himself the same way again. If you get what you want and he drops the investigation, he’ll feel like he betrayed his badge and his country. It will eat him alive.”

His face remains impassive, completely unmoved. Then again, I never expected anything else.

“You may do exactly what you promise and let us both go,” I continue, “but don’t think for one second you’re giving us back our lives.”

He turns and walks slowly across the room, moving at a casual pace. He’s so relaxed I can’t even tell if he’s heard me.

Then he speaks. “Do you think I’m not a man of my word, Olivia? Do you think I’m lying about letting you go when a year has passed?”

“I have no reason to trust you or your word.”

He walks over to the table by the balcony and sits down in the same chair his mother chose the last time she was here. Eerie how similarly they move.

“Sit,” he says, gesturing to the seat across from him.

Even at this distance, I’m painfully aware of his presence. I don’t need to get any closer.

“Thanks, but I’ll stay where I am.”

He raises his eyebrows and then shrugs. “Your doubt wounds me,” he says. “But ask yourself this: why would I keep you once you’ve served your purpose?”

This time, I’m proud of how little my face moves when he flings the insult at me.

---