Page 16 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

She looks up at me and swallows. Her eyes are wide, full of fear and hope at the same time. When she blinks, her lashes brush slowly across her cheekbones, light as a breath.

“I don’t trust my instincts anymore,” she says in the tiniest voice imaginable. “All they do is break my heart.”

I’m silent for a beat. That could mean so many different things. I can feel that throb in my chest urging me to pick the interpretation I’m craving. To confirm what I see in her eyes, in her face, in the space between her fearful breaths.

But I resist that temptation.

Instead, I lift my hand and push back a lock of her hair. Indulging the smaller urge to stave off the bigger one.

“Why did you come here, Aleks?” she murmurs.

“Why did you leave?” I counter.

“How could I have stayed?” she asks. “After everything that happened…”

“You’re not safe here,” I tell her. “Regardless of what your brother thinks, Hargrove is not the savior you think he is. He’s capable of anything.”

“I don’t know what you want from me,” she says in frustration. “You want me to convince my family that you’re not the villain so we can run away with you instead? Because they’ve already made up their minds about that. You’re also capable of anything.”

“I’m no hero, and I’ve never pretended to be. Sometimes, there’s more than one villain in a story,” I say gently. “There isn’t always a choice between good and evil. Maybe you have to choose between bad and worse.”

4

OLIVIA

Bad and worse.

Those are my only choices.

Choosing Aleks means going against my family. It means standing up to my brother, my sister, my mother. Telling them to ignore what they’ve seen and experienced with their own eyes.

But then there’shiseyes.

I can’t seem to get away from them. So blue, an empty sky on a frosty winter’s morning and the hottest part of a fire at the same time. How is anyone supposed to focus when those eyes are locked on yours?

Every argument Aleks has handed me so far has made sense. But then again, those blue eyes could convince the angels to march straight into hell and stay there.

“I can’t betray my family. Not again. Not after…” I swallow down my nerves and stand tall. “What happened between us was a mistake.”

“Whatdidhappen between us, Olivia?” he asks, as though he needs reminding.

Maybe he does. That hurts all the more.

“You know damn well what happened.”

“Humor me.”

I grit my teeth and back away from his intimidating height. Looking up at him is making me dizzy.

“It was one thing sleeping with you before I knew who you were,” I say softly. “But the… the second time…”

“You slept with me the second time because youbelievedme, Olivia,” he points out. “You believed that I had nothing to do with what your brother was accusing me of. That I was not the villain you thought I was.”

“I don’t know that I gave it that much thought,” I admit.

He smiles. “I’m flattered.”

It’s nothing he didn’t already know about the effect he has on me, the effect he has on every woman he meets. There’s no point in being embarrassed, but I am. Falling for a trap that has already ensnared others doesn’t make it hurt any less.

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