Page 57 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

Her siblings stay beside their mother’s body, but she rises slowly and walks towards me.

Her decision is made.

I take her hand and we walk out of the room together.

I know Hargrove will follow. So when he screams after us, I’m prepared.

“Wait!” he bellows. His men rally around him with their weapons drawn. A bristling forest of guns aimed at my face.

I push Olivia behind me. I’ll take every last fucking bullet they have before I let him so much as lay a finger on her.

“Do you really think I’m just going to let you walk out of here with her?” Hargrove snarls.

I glance towards the hospital room he had Olivia confined to. Her family is still inside, clustered around their dead mother like all this isn’t their goddamn fault.

“It’s just us now, Hargrove,” I say. “You can drop the pretense. There’s no need to act like the Good Samaritan the people think you are.”

“You’re the one who’s pretending. Olivia, darling,” he says, changing his tactic, “come back over here. I can protect you from him.”

She doesn’t respond. She just stays behind me, doing her best not to fall apart.

“You can’t manipulate her like you did the others, Hargrove.”

“Why is that?” he snaps. “Because you got to her first?”

“Because she’s smarter and stronger than you by a mile.”

“How touching,” he spits.

“You’re going to let us leave this hospital,” I tell him calmly. “And in return, I’ll spare your life. For today.”

He glowers at me. “Do you really imagine you’re in any position to be making an offer like that?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” I ask. “I’m the one with the upper hand.”

“Is that a fact?” he laughs condescendingly. “What, are you planning on throwing her in front of you like a human shield?”

“No,” I reply. “I’m planning on this.”

I make a subtle cue with my fingers and immediately, my men appear from behind doors, hallways, and elevator shafts. They converge around Olivia and me, a wall of Bratva soldiers so thick that there’s no chance Hargrove can delude himself into thinking he has any chance of reaching us.

His eyes go wide when he realizes how badly he’s underestimated the situation.

“If you want to fight, we can fight,” I tell him. “But I’m not sure that’s very respectful to the woman in there who just died. Your future mother-in-law, I believe.”

I feel Olivia flinch behind me.

He narrows his eyes in anger. “You bastard.”

I chuckle. “I’ve been called worse. You know, this little meeting has been illuminating. But the next time we meet, I doubt I’ll have much interest in conversation.”

“Careful, Makarova,” he fumes. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

“Actually, you’ve got that backwards. If you’d done your research, you never would have tried to frame me in the first place. Men have died for less.”

I turn my back on him and take Olivia by the hand. I lead her towards the elevator while my men cover our backs.

Demyan is waiting for us in a car idling in front of the hospital. I help Olivia into the back seat and then climb in after her.

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