Page 188 of Shattered Altar (Makarova Bratva Duet)

OLIVIA

I’m still staring at the ceiling trying to figure anything out when the door opens again. I don’t know how long I’ve been laying here, but I know instinctively it’s not Aleks.

Yulia walks over to the bed and sits down beside me. “You look pale.”

“So I’ve been told,” I mutter.

She surprises me by taking my hand. Only then do I realize that her expression is stark and urgent. Her eyes hold an edge of panic that I haven’t seen before.

I sit up immediately. “Yulia, what’s wrong?”

“I have a way out for you,” she whispers. She glances over her shoulder at the shadowy corner like someone might be lurking and listening.

“A what?”

“He’s not going to let you go, Olivia. I’m not sure if you know, but your brother’s no longer a part of the investigation into the Bratva.”

“Yeah, I know. He told me.”

“Then you know that there’s no reason for him to keep you here anymore. But I think he’s planning to do it all the same.”

I bite my lip, recalling Aleks’s words. “He… he seems to think I’m in danger.”

“In danger from whom?” she asks, pulling her eyebrows together.

“From the man who tried to frame him.”

Yulia’s expression twists. I can tell she doesn’t buy it, and her doubt makes me question his sincerity. I’d convinced myself it made sense when Aleks was sitting in front of me, but now I’m starting to wonder whether I was just being naive.

“He’s just trying to control me, isn’t he?” I ask.

“If you don’t want to do this—”

“No,” I say, clinging to her hand. “No, I do. If you have a way out, I’ll take it.”

She nods, but her face is still somber. It speaks to the kind of danger we’ll be in if we’re caught.

“Are you sure you can do this?” I ask.

“Aleks just stepped out with a contingent of men,” Yulia informs me. “There are guards on duty, but I know their movements. I’m the one who arranged their shifts. I can have you out of here in the next ten minutes.”

Ten minutes?

Is that all that remains between me and freedom?

After three months under lock and key, I didn’t think it would be over so soon.

I swallow my nerves and give her a curt nod. “Let’s go.”

As I get to my feet, I have to push back another wave of nausea. My head feels like it’s about to burst. My heart does, too. I expect it’s the adrenaline of escape.

But the sadness that weighs me down like an anchor? That’s something else entirely. It’s a deep sense of loss that I can’t quite justify.

And since I can’t explain it, I ignore it and follow Yulia out the door with nothing but the clothes on my back.

We move through the house quickly and quietly. Amazingly, we don’t run into a soul.

I haven’t been out in the front of the house since I first arrived here. I barely recognize the facade.

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