Page 169 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

“That’s up to you. What I’m telling you, though? It’s the truth.”

“Do you even recognize the truth?” I scoff. “I mean, Jesus! What kind of person comes home to meet her boyfriend’s mother and his sisters, knowing it’s all a lie? We spent Christmas together, Isabella—Jennifer—whatever the fuck your name is. We were still hurting from losing our dad, and we welcomed you into our family. Rob proposed to you and thought it was going to be forever. You know why? Because you fucking said yes.”

Tears are pooling in her eyes as she nods. “I know. I did say yes. It was the one thing I did for me… because in the moment, it felt like the right answer.”

“In the moment,” I scowl. “And what about afterwards?”

“Afterwards, I knew I’d made a mistake. Rob is a federal agent, Liv. And me? The farthest thing from it. We’re just too damned different. He fell in love with the version of me that I gave him. But if he knew the real me, he’d never have looked twice.”

“Am I supposed to feel bad for you? You’re not the victim here.”

“I’m not claiming to be a victim, just like I’m not claiming to be a hero. To be honest, I don’t believe in either one of those things. But I do want you to understand why I did what I did. He was a job at first. Then, as the months slipped by, I lost myself in the dream of him. For a moment, it even seemed… possible.”

I glance towards Aleks to see what he thinks of this. His expression is impassive. His body language gives nothing away. But he stays close to Jennifer, like he’s ready to catch her if she falls.

Jealousy rages through me. It’s burning hot. And no matter what I do to push it back, it keeps coming up.

I turn away from both of them.

“Liv—”

“Don’t!” I yell. “Don’t talk to me like you know me. You’re an imposter and a fraud.”

“I’m all those things and worse,” she says gently. “But that doesn’t mean I’m lying now. Your brother may have started out as a job, but he became something more to me.”

“What does it even matter?” I ask. “You broke his heart all the same. Ripped it right out of his damn chest.”

“I—”

“If it weren’t for you, he might have dropped the case. But after you disappeared, that’s when his obsession with the Bratva really doubled down.”

“Because the FBI’s anonymous tipper told him that my disappearance had something to do with Aleks,” she explains patiently. “The case was dying, and he was desperate to jumpstart it again. And desperate to find me. It gave him a second wind.”

“Rob,” I whisper. “He… he has to know about this. I have to tell him.”

She looks frightened suddenly for maybe the first time. “Liv, please… I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

“Why not?”

“For one, I’m still undercover on a mission. For another, it just wouldn’t be the closure you think it would be. Some things are better left buried.”

“We all wrote you off as dead, you know?” I seethe. “All except Rob. He kept saying it over and over again, even when no one else believed him. She’s alive. She’s out there somewhere. If she were dead, I would feel it in my bones. That’s how much he loved you. He still does.”

A tear slips down her cheek. My heart tugs, but I shush it. It’s just an act. Pure fiction. Another facet of her role. Another part of her miserable, life-ruining job.

“He loves Isabella,” she corrects. “But Isabella was only ever a creation. She never really existed, not in any way that matters. And she’s gone now.”

“No! No. You exist. You have a name and likes and dislikes and a home. You have to take up space somewhere! Where do you live?”

“Between missions, Jennifer lives here,” Aleks tells me. “In the room you found upstairs.”

My jaw drops. “You knew I found the room?”

“The room, the scarf, all of it.”

“And you didn’t say anything?”

“I didn’t need to. I knew you’d find out about Jennifer eventually.”

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