Page 117 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

“Maybe that’s why he’s so hard on you,” she suggests. “He can’t force you into a box the way he’s done with everyone else.”

“Are you including yourself in that?”

She nods sadly. “I have to, if I’m being at all honest.”

“You don’t have to stay, though,” I point out. “You could leave. Start over somewhere else, do what you want, when you want it.”

Yulia is silent for a moment. Pensive. Her eyes flicker down to my belly. “Do you love the child inside of you, Olivia?”

I don’t have to think to answer. “Yes, I do.”

She nods. “It was the same for me. I loved him the moment I knew of his existence. Everything I endured after was worth it—because it meant I got to be his mother. When you feel that way about a child, it doesn’t matter what they grow into or how they treat you. You can’t ever leave them. You can’t ever just remove yourself from their lives.”

Her eyes swim with unshed tears. She blinks a few times until they disappear altogether. She’s spent a lifetime keeping herself from crying. By this point, she’s pretty damn good at it.

“I can’t abandon him again,” she finishes. “It would be like cutting my heart out of my chest.”

I reach out and rest my hand on her arm. “You’re a good mother, Yulia. Aleks may not know that, but I do.”

She gives me a grateful smile. “Thank you, darling. That’s kind of you to say.”

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

She chuckles. “At this point, why not?”

“Is that the reason you chose Aleks over Hargrove? Is it because he’s your son?” I ask. “Or is it because you believe Aleks’s story?”

She raises her eyebrows and sighs. “The truth? I don’t believe that Donald could have done it. But Aleks is convinced, and at the end of the day, I’m going to back my son. There is nothing more important than family.”

I can’t help but laugh bitterly. “I used to believe that, too.”

Yulia gives me a sad smile. “I know things are hard with your brother and sister right now. This rift between you all can’t be easy, especially given everything else you’re going through.”

“I used to think it was temporary. But now…”

“Have faith,” she advises. “Maybe there’s a world in which you can live here and still maintain a relationship with them. Stranger things have happened.”

I frown at the almost secretive way in which she says that last part. Like she knows something I don’t.

“Fat chance of that. I’m leaving as soon as I can, Yulia.”

She nods sympathetically. “Darling,” she begins—and this time, she’s the one who reaches for my hand—“if you choose to leave, I doubt he’ll stop you. It would be a matter of pride for him. But…”

“But what?”

“You wouldn’t be allowed to bring the child.”

My body reacts to that simple sentence like he’s already ripped my baby away from me. My pulse quickens, my skin chills, hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

I palm my abdomen protectively. “He can’t take my child from me.”

“He will do what he pleases, Olivia. It’s all he knows how to do.”

I shiver again, a head-to-toe, full-body shiver that rips all the way through me like a lightning bolt. “He’s a monster.”

“And yet you love him. Which suggests that perhaps there are parts of him that can be redeemed.”

I jerk my eyes up to meet hers. “Iwhathim?”

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