Page 50 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

Simple words. The kind you’d find in a fortune cookie at some strip mall Chinese restaurant. They seem wildly out of place in this room, with this threat staring me down.

“Did you come here to waste my time?” he asks when I keep fidgeting in the silence.

“I didn’t come here at all, remember?” I remind him acidly. “You took me.”

“I’m assuming you have a point to make. Do us all a favor and get to it.”

I square my shoulders and look him right in the eye, ignoring every instinct in my body. “I want to know that my family is okay.”

“They were released the moment we cleared the street,” he says.

I frown. “How do I even know that’s true? What’s the proof?”

“My word.”

I snort. “I hope you can understand why that means nothing to me.”

“I’m not interested in understanding much about you, Olivia,” he says. “I think that puts us at an impasse.”

“An impasse implies that both parties have tried to compromise. But in our case, you’re the one holding all the cards. You have all the power.”

Aleks cocks his head to the side and gives me a smile that makes my insides tremble.

The attraction I felt for him still exists. Seeing him tie up my family, threaten my brother, and abduct me didn’t kill those feelings. It just made the tingling concentrated between my legs a thousand times more shameful.

“That’s right,” Aleks says with a nod. “I do have all the power. Your brother would do well to remember that.”

“He’s just doing his job.”

“And I’m doing mine.”

I shake my head. “This is not a job.”

“No?” he drawls. “Then tell me what it is. Tell me who I am. I’m simply dying to know.”

“You’re just some low life thug! A criminal whose mistakes are catching up to him.”

“Let’s suspend reality for a moment and assume that’s true,” he says casually, leaning back in his chair. “If I go down, I’m bringing everyone down with me. That includes your brother, Olivia. And now, it includes you.”

“My brother can take you.”

“You’re overestimating him.”

“I’m not. I know him.”

He springs forward so fast that I don’t even have time to back up. He stops right in front of me, and I’m glad I didn’t back away.

Stand your ground. If nothing else, maybe I can take the advice literally.

“But you don’t know me,” he hisses. “And trust me, little girl: you don’t want to.”

I draw in a shuddering breath. “You’re right about that. I already know enough.”

Aleks’s eyes glisten with the promise of violence. “If that were true, you’d know not to push me.”

“I’ve been confined to that room for almost two days. You’d probably keep me there forever if I hadn’t pushed for this meeting.”

He doesn’t respond. I’m not naive enough to believe I’ve made any leeway, but I’ll take any opening I can get.

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