Page 29 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

Olivia flinches, but I ignore her, maintaining my loose grip on her hair.

“Where is Isabella?” Rob’s eyes narrow as my fingers drift down Olivia’s shoulder to graze her bare skin.

“I don’t know any Isabellas,” I tell him.

“You’re fuckin’ lying.”

“It’s not in your best interests to fight me on this, Robert,” I say. “You’re the lead agent on the investigation monitoring me and my men. End it.”

“I don’t have the authority to do that.”

“Then find a way to make it happen. I’ve followed your career—very impressive, I might add. You’ve built a reputation of trust and loyalty around the Bureau. If you claim that the case on me is a dead end, they’ll listen.”

“You really think I would sell out like that? Betray everything I promised to protect?”

I shrug. “You will if you want your family to survive this war you’ve started.”

Suddenly, I yank hard on Olivia’s hair, bending her neck back at a vicious angle. Her mother’s eyes go wide, but she doesn’t make a sound. Her mouth just opens in a silent scream.

The sister, however, goes wild. She grunts and struggles against her ties, nearly toppling her chair—until one of my men presses a gun to the back of her head.

“No!” Olivia screams, finding her voice.

She tries to run towards her sister, but I reel her back against me. Her hands claw at me as she thrashes and looks desperately at her sister. Tears streak her cheeks. They catch the dying evening light like diamonds.

“Please,” she begs. “Please, Aleks, tell him to drop the gun.”

“Should I listen to her, Robert?” I muse. “Should I tell my man to drop the gun?”

His eyes dart wildly between both his sisters and his mother. I want to see the sigh of him admitting he’s been beaten. That telltale slump of the shoulders.

I want to watch the light go out in his eyes when he sees that he cannot win.

And for a moment, it seems as if I might get exactly that. Exactly what I came for.

But then, right at the precipice of conceding, he changes course. The resolve hardens in his jaw, in his fists. The tendons of his neck thrum with tension.

He takes his job too seriously. He has the unfortunate shackle of believing in the work he’s doing at the Bureau.

But it’s more than that, too.

This is personal. He truly believes I am the one who abducted his fiancée. And he’s not one to be moved by threats. Which means I have to do more than just threaten him.

“You’re not going to fucking win, Makarova,” he growls. “We’re onto you now.”

I shrug. “You’ve already investigated all my businesses. If you’d found anything to charge me with, there’d be a warrant issued already.”

“That doesn’t prove shit. All it proves is that you’re clever enough to cover your tracks.”

“That’s right,” I nod as Olivia shivers against me. “I am clever. More importantly, I have infinite resources at my disposal. You don’t want to start something with me, Agent Lawrence, I assure you.”

“I think it’s a little too late for that. This is the second time you’ve come after my family.”

“There wasn’t a first time.”

“Isabella,” he growls sharply. “That was the first time.”

“Your ego is blinding. Your fiancée left you,” I growl. “Accept it.”

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