Page 28 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

“Here, let me help you with that.” I rip it off in one vicious tug.

“You motherfucker!” he screams as soon as he can. “You cocksucking fucking piece of—”

I sit back down and eye him wearily. “You kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“Let them go!” he snarls. “They don’t have fuck-all to do with this!”

“Rob!” Olivia cries. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”

He ignores her questions entirely. “How do you know this motherfucker, Liv?”

Olivia gets quiet. Guilt washes over her face.

“Liv!” Rob presses.

“He… he was on my flight,” she stammers. “We were on the same flight and it got delayed. We got to talking—”

“He’s a fucking criminal, Liv!” Rob practically yells. “He’s a mobster and a murderer.”

The color drains from her face. Olivia turns to me, her eyes begging me to deny it. Pleading, hoping that surely there must be some mistake, some mix-up, that this cannot possibly be right…

I give her a dismissive shrug. “I think the term he’s looking for is ‘Don.’”

“Don?” Olivia repeats, looking between me and Rob. “Like… the mafia?”

“Bratva,” I correct. “Not mafia. Don’t make that mistake again.”

“Bratva,” she whispers. “Of course. You’re Russian.”

I nod. “That’s right. And your brother here made the mistake of getting on my bad side.”

“I think you have that the wrong way around,” Rob growls through gritted teeth. “Olivia, this is the bastard that took Isabella. Abducted her. Shit, he probably raped her before doing God knows what else.”

“Don’t look to God, Robert,” I chide. “Not even God knows what I get up to. And even if he did, he couldn’t stop me.”

“Jesus Christ,” Olivia moans to herself, bending forward so that her forehead touches her knees. “What is happening…?”

“Did he hurt you, Liv?” Rob demands.

Olivia doesn’t reply. She keeps her head between her legs and takes deep breaths, trying to stave off her panic.

“Liv!”

She jerks upright, looking like she might be about to vomit in her own lap. “No. No, he… he didn’t.”

“See, Robert?” I say, turning to him. “I’m not the monster you’ve made me out to be. And I certainly had nothing to do with your fiancée’s disappearance.”

“I have a lead that says you do.”

“Your lead is wrong,” I snap. “I don’t abduct women. And I don’t keep them against their will.”

I get up and walk towards Olivia. She stiffens as I move around her chair to stand behind her, but she knows better than to try to escape. There’s nowhere for her to go.

I take a fistful of her hair and let it run like silk between my fingers. “That is, unless I’m given a reason to.”

“Don’t you fucking touch her!”

“Call off the investigation on my Bratva,” I say. “Call it off now, and I won’t have to hurt your family.”

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