Page 95 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

“Precisely.”

I snort. “Yeah, that’s never gonna happen.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Oh?”

“Why on earth would I be okay with that?”

“Expecting loyalty and commitment from a partner only comes when feelings are involved,” she says. “I didn’t think that was the case for you and Aleksandr.”

At those words, my skin starts tingling with warning.

“It isn’t the case,” I say firmly, despite the fact that my cheeks are raging with color.

“Then why should any of this matter? I am simply giving you the instruction manual for a peaceful life.”

I open my mouth and shut it again. I have no answer, no defense. No way of getting myself out of this other than to feign indifference.

“It… it doesn’t matter,” I say. “But… if I have to suffer in this sham of a marriage, then so does he.”

“You weren’t listening, were you? He is don. He has all the power, Olivia.” Yulia smiles sympathetically. “The way you get ahead is to think smart and behave smarter. But if you take any one piece of advice from me, take this one: a woman can’t get anywhere in the Bratva life without a strong man to back her.”

I snort. “Noted. Very progressive of you all.”

“And in the absence of a strong man,” she continues, “you have to be shrewd and sly and devious. You have to make him think he’s in control.”

“I’d like a third option,” I grumble.

“Then run,” she says simply. “But be prepared to keep running. Because if you leave, he will look for you. And he will never stop looking.”

A part of me wonders if she’s playing reverse psychology on me. If she’s here trying to earn my trust and manipulate me on behalf of her son.

But there’s a desperate look in her eyes that I believe is sincere. She’s just as trapped, just as stuck as I am.

Besides, I have to trust her. There’s power in numbers, right? There has to be.

I can’t afford to do this alone.

---