Page 84 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

Panic starts snaking its way up my spine. My brother is standing opposite me all alone, surrounded by Aleks’s men. He’s the most vulnerable he’s ever been and there’s nothing stopping Aleks from killing him.

“I did what you asked,” Rob whispers hoarsely. “Now, can you please stop pointing the gun at her?”

Aleks smirks and pops open the clip, revealing that it was unloaded the entire time. Rob’s eyes bulge.

“Just needed to make a point,” he says mildly. “But it’s good to know how far you’ll go to protect your sister. She is quite something, isn’t she?”

I twist around and grab the front of Aleks’s shirt. “Please don’t hurt him. Let him go. I’ll stay with you if you let him go. I won’t put up a fight.”

“Liv, no!” Rob cries.

I ignore him and focus only on Aleks’s deep blue eyes. “Please.”

He looks down at me with an unreadable emotion on his face. Almost tenderly, he peels my hands off his shirt, although he keeps them enveloped in his as he gazes at me.

“It would be easy, wouldn’t it?” he murmurs. “To just walk away from here and call it a day?”

Oh, God. Oh, God.

“But then Robert won’t learn his lesson,” Aleks continues calmly. “We had a deal, Rob. You drop the investigation and bury it. You come alone and we work out terms to make sure I get what I want and you get your sister back. But you thought you could outsmart me. And now? Well, now there need to be consequences. So that you understand exactly who the fuck you’re dealing with.”

“No!” I scream, terrified now. “No, please, Aleks! Please don’t hurt him!”

“Don’t worry, Olivia,” he tuts. “I’m not going to kill him. I’m just going to make him suffer.”

My thoughts run amok. Will I have to stand here and watch while Aleks mutilates my brother? While he breaks an arm or severs a leg?

I mean, that’s what Bratvas do, don’t they? They torture. They deal out pain like Halloween candy.

I wriggle free of Aleks and try to sprint to my brother, but Demyan intercepts me. He wraps his arms around my waist and hauls me into the air. All I can do is kick and scream.

It only serves to exhaust me.

“No! No! No! Let her fucking go!” Rob yells. He tries to close the distance to us, but Aleks holds out his hand and my brother halts dead in his tracks.

“Not another move,” Aleks says firmly. Then he touches his earpiece and orders, “Bring out the priest.”

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