Page 89 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

“It’ll probably be just Mia there tonight then.”

“And Hargrove?” I ask, feeling my skin prickle with anger when I think about it.

Mia spending the night at the house is one thing. She has a right to that. But Hargrove? I don’t want him walking around those sacred spaces as though he has a right to be there.

“I don’t know. I didn’t really ask.”

I nod. My bitterness tastes… well, bitter. “Well, maybe it’s what she needs for closure.”

“I don’t think getting closure is that simple.”

I nod. He’s definitely got that right.

“Rob?” I say after another handful of quiet breaths passes. “I don’t want to sell the house.”

“Hm. I see.”

“I’m just saying… I know it’ll be discussed at some point, and I want my voice heard. I don’t want to sell it. That’s where I stand.”

“We’ll have to see what Mia thinks,” he warns.

“What about you?”

“Well, what are we supposed to do with it?” he asks. “Mia isn’t going to live there and neither am I. If you’re planning to, you could buy both our stakes in the house.”

I bite my lip, knowing that there’s no way I can afford that. I’m pretty sure Rob knows it, too.

“I’m happy to write over my share of the house to you for nothing,” he assures me. “But Mia…”

“She’s never going to do it,” I finish. “And I wouldn’t take your charity, anyway. It’s as much yours as it is mine.”

“I’ve never needed much, Liv,” he murmurs. “Just a good job with purpose, a little place I can call my own, and a woman I love to share it with. Not long ago, I had all three.”

“And now?”

“Now, I’m not sure I have anything at all.”

“You have purpose.”

“Do I?” he asks. “Because lately, I’ve had a tough time staying motivated. Even on this case… I mean, I know I put the ball in motion, but look at what it’s cost me.”

Hearing the heaviness in his voice, I realize that he’s carrying around the same guilt I’ve been carrying around. Dad used to say that Rob and I were a lot alike, and I never fully understood that until right now.

I always assumed I had more in common with Mia. But we were just closer, not necessarily more similar.

“What happened to Mom was not your fault,” I say, speaking the words I need to hear.

“Of course you’d say that.”

“I mean it.”

He sighs. “Listen, Liv, I should get going.”

“No, Rob, wait,” I say. “Can we… can we just talk? A proper conversation? Face to face?”

He hesitates for a long time. So long in fact that I start thinking he might turn me down.

“Okay,” he says finally. “We can do lunch. Tomorrow at one?”

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