Page 81 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

I stand there, wedged between Demyan and Aleks, but my eyes stay fixed on my brother. I’m hoping he’ll see that I haven’t been hurt. That I’m okay.

All I want is the same assurance from him.

“Rob,” I gasp desperately. “Are Mom and Mia okay?”

He doesn’t budge from where he’s standing, but he looks me over for damage. Then he nods. “They’re fine. Both being looked after.”

Relief floods through me. “Oh, thank God.”

“But they’re worried about you,” he adds. “We all are.”

I glance towards Aleks, realizing that I’m up. Next on the docket. I have to make good on my part of the bargain.

“Rob,” I begin, “he’ll let me go. He’ll let me leave with you if you just drop the investigation.”

“The case is dropped,” he says. “You can release her to me, Makarova.”

Aleks hasn’t said a word since I got here, and now, I’m scared of what’s going to come out of his mouth. From the calculating glint in his eye, I already know it can’t be good.

“You keep saying that, Agent Lawrence,” he sighs. “You keep saying you dropped the investigation, that I have nothing left to be concerned about. Just like you insist you came alone.”

“Because I did drop it. And I did come alone,” he says.

But I don’t miss the way his eyes go wide. It’s slight, but it’s there. And a strange feeling spreads through my chest, like a cold breeze only I can feel.

Aleks exchanges a glance with Demyan and then shakes his head. “Then why are there ten unmarked FBI vans in a quarter-mile radius? Why have they formed a circle around us? Why are you using private government radio channels to communicate with them?”

I turn white as a ghost. “Rob, you… you brought backup?”

I can see the truth on his face: he’s not here alone like I thought he was. Like he swore he would be.

In this, at least, it seems Aleks was right. My valiant defense of my brother has proved to be hollow.

He takes an uncertain half-step forward, hand stretched out to me in silent apology. “I’m sorry, Liv,” he says sincerely. “But I couldn’t risk coming here alone. This man… he’s dangerous. More than you know.”

“Compliments aren’t going to help you now, Robert,” Aleks remarks. “We had a bargain and you broke it. I told you when you last left that the only way you’d get your sister back is by ending the investigation and following my instructions. You chose to ignore me. There are consequences for that.”

“This is a whole lot bigger than my sister, Makarova,” he barks. “There are more lives at stake.”

I blink at him, not fully understanding. Or maybe just not wanting to understand. “Rob, what do you mean?”

Rob looks over, his eyes pleading for me to understand. “He has taken multiple women, Liv. I don’t know what he does with them. But they disappear without a fucking trace.”

Frowning, I glance at Aleks to see how this accusation is sitting with him.

He looks almost bored.

“You’re starting to imagine things now, Robert. Delusions aren’t very becoming of a federal agent.”

Rob shakes his head. “It’s not my imagination,” he insists. “I have evidence placing at least three different women who are now missing persons in and around your properties. They all have ties to your people.”

Aleks narrows his eyes. I feel Demyan stiffen behind me. I have no idea how to read their body language. It could be denial or anger. But it could just as easily be read as acknowledgement.

That probably shouldn’t shock me, but it does.

Because somehow, I’ve allowed myself to be convinced over the course of the last few days that Aleks couldn’t possibly be guilty of doing what Rob thinks he’s done.

Ironic, I know, considering he abducted me.

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