Page 166 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

I hear a snap and look down to realize I’ve tightened my fist so hard that the pencil broke apart in my hand.

Yulia raises her eyebrows and reaches out to place her hand over mine. “I tell you this because I do actually care about you: submit. It’ll be easier that way.”

I tear my hand out from under hers. “Easier?” I scoff. “Easier for whom?”

“For everyone involved,” she says with a defeated sigh.

I shake my head and get to my feet. “I already told him I won’t stand for him screwing around while I’m his captive. I just won’t.”

Yulia’s eyes go wide. She looks guilty.

“What?” I press. “What is it?”

She shakes her head quickly. “Nothing.”

“Yulia, if you really are on my side, you’ll tell me.”

She looks so conflicted. If Aleks were in my position, he would demand she tell him everything. He’d threaten her, do whatever it took.

But I’m not him.

And as much as I don’t want to be like Yulia—bending under the pressure of powerful men, living always in a terrified survival mode—I don’t want to be like him, either.

She sighs. “He has a woman in his office right now.”

My body goes cold. I don’t even realize I’m up and striding away until I hear Yulia cry out my name.

“Olivia, what are you doing?” she calls.

I don’t reply—mostly because I don’t have an answer for her. I’m not quite sure myself.

I keep walking until I reach his office. There’s no one around, so I move closer to his door. I press my ear against the cool wood.

Nothing. No sound comes through. I take a step back and weigh my options.

Luckily, a maid rounds the corner just then. “Hey!” I call out.

“Yes, ma’am?” she asks, her eyes downcast. “How can I help you?”

“Aleks… ah, Don Makarova wanted some ice in his office. Immediately.”

“There’s ice in a silver bucket under the bar.”

“Um, he… ran out.”

“Oh! I’ll get some right away,” she says. She scurries off and she’s back in less than a minute with a small bucket of ice.

We stand awkwardly outside the door for a moment, each of us waiting for the other to open it.

“Why don’t you knock?” I suggest.

Her brow creases, but she doesn’t disobey the order. A second later, I hear Aleks's voice. “What is it?”

“It’s Lydia, sir,” she says. “I have your ice.”

“Ice?”

I hold my breath, waiting for my plan to dissolve right in front of my eyes.

But then, the door opens.

Aleks is standing there, looking annoyed. I don’t have time to see if he looks disheveled or mussed or guilty. I just shove past him and Lydia, pushing my way into the office.

I swivel towards the fourth person in the room. Yulia was right. There is a woman in his office.

But unlike what I feared, she’s not naked.

It’s so much worse.

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