Page 168 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

I look up at him and he winks at me. It takes everything I have to keep my mouth from falling wide open.

“You son of a bitch!” Hargrove screeches before turning to Kennedy. “He took my gun and killed her with it!”

“And then… handed it back to you?” Kennedy asks skeptically.

“Why would I kill Yulia?” Hargrove demands. “She was on my side!”

“Really?” Demyan says, speaking up for the first time in a while. “Because from where I was standing, it looked like she was about to confess to her part in all this and you didn’t want her to give away your game.”

I frown, my heart beating hard against my rib cage.Her part in all this.It’s right there on the tip of my tongue, dancing just out of sight in the shadows.

And then it hits me.

The truth I’ve been trying not to see.

Yulia didn’t believe Hargrove’s lies.

She helped him dream them up in the first place.

“Yulia was the groomer,” I whisper.

40

ALEKS

I watch both Olivia and Rob connect the dots.

Rob pales visibly like he might puke on his shoes at any moment. But Olivia? She stands there. She’s the pillar of support now. She’s the bedrock of the Lawrence family.

“You want the truth?” I ask Kennedy. “There were plenty of witnesses in this room. These two,” I point at Jennifer and Demyan, “work for me, and they’re both filthy liars, so I wouldn’t advise trusting a word they say.”

Both of them smile.

“But that one,” I continue, jerking my head at Rob, “is a federal agent. Plus, he hates my fucking guts. I think you can count on him for the truth.”

I make eye contact with Rob. He stares back at me in disbelief that all this is happening, but I already know what he’s going to do.

He glances towards his colleague. Then he clears his throat, stands up tall, and says in a rasping baritone, “It was Hargrove who pulled the trigger. He killed Yulia Makarova.”

Kennedy doesn’t ask any more questions. He just nods once and Hargrove is dragged off, kicking and screaming and frothing at the mouth.

Jennifer and Demyan close ranks around me, but I have eyes only for Olivia.

She’s visibly shaken, barely keeping it together. All I want to do is get her out of this room as quickly as possible. I start to make for the exits, but Kennedy blocks my path.

He gives me a bemused smile. “That went better than I expected, actually.”

“It went exactly as I’d planned.”

“As for your mother’s death,” he says. “You’re sticking with the story that Hargrove killed her?”

I raise my eyebrows. “The witnesses just told you what happened. That’s the only story to tell.”

“I’m not interested in stories, you know,” he says. “Only the truth.”

“Is this a truth you’re planning on pursuing?”

He hesitates for a second, weighing the consequences of picking at a lie he suspects but can’t wholly prove. Then he sighs and slumps his shoulders.

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