Page 48 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

It reminds me of Rob, back when he still knew how to laugh.

It reminds me of our father, of days where all of this would’ve seemed like a strange, incomprehensible dream.

“Are you ever going to get rid of this car, Rob?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. In a way, I just want to be reassured.

“Never,” he says. “I’ll keep this old girl alive as long as I can. And once she conks on me, I’m gonna put her in the shed and visit her at night.”

He grins wildly, the way he used to, and if I look at that smile and let it warm me and let the smell of his car fill me, then I can pretend this is okay.

That everything is going to be okay.

I twirl my phone in my hand and bop along to a song I don’t know on the radio. For the first time in far too long, life feels like something approaching normal.

It’s only when Rob pulls into the lot of Cedar Crest Memorial Hospital that I jerk upright, my body tightening with tension.

“Why are we at the hospital?” I ask in alarm.

Mia turns around in her seat and gives me a practiced, comforting smile. “It’s time we get you checked out, Liv. The pregnancy… I’m not sure it’s helping things.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“It’s clouding your judgment, splitting your loyalties. I think, once you don’t have that distraction anymore, you’ll understand why Makarova needs to be put away for good.”

My eyes go wide as panic paralyzes me. I feel a fluttering in my stomach. It’s too early to feel actual movement, but in that moment, I swear I feel the child inside me, fighting to stay alive.

“You… you want me to…” I can’t even say the words.

“You trust us, don’t you?” Mia asks. “We love you, munchkin. We want to help you. This baby… it’s only going to tie you to him. And once he’s exposed, you’ll understand it for the burden it is.”

“Rob,” I breathe, turning to my brother. “Rob, please—”

“It’s still early days, Liv,” he says, though he refuses to meet my eyes. “It’s better to do this sooner than later. But don’t worry—we’ll be with you every step of the way. We’re your family.”

12

ALEKS

“They want us to agree to an equal split,” Demyan mutters.

I roll my eyes. “The Greeks are high if they think they’re getting that.”

“My sentiments exactly.”

“Drop the meeting,” I tell him. “No explanation, no rescheduling, just drop it. They’ll get the message.”

“They’ll be expecting negotiations.”

“Except you don’t negotiate with a king,” I growl. “You take what he gives you and then you thank him for not chopping your balls off instead. These fuckwits are small-time and they were lucky they had a good idea. But if they think I’m going fifty-fifty on a deal like this, they don’t know the Bratva all that well.”

“Sixty-forty?”

I think for a second. “Tell them that we were going to offer seventy-thirty. But after this irritating little display of insolence, they’re lucky I’m giving eighty-twenty.”

“They are super-duper not gonna like that, chief.”

“They can either learn to like it or disappear from my city. Their choice.”

Demyan nods. “Got it, boss.” He knows how I get when I’m in these kinds of moods. No mercy for anyone. “Your phone is ringing.”

---