Page 54 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

“Rob!” Mia says in alarm. “What are you doing?”

He ignores her. “Donald, tell your men to put down their guns.”

“Pardon?” Hargrove says. For a moment, his mask of calm slips and I see something behind his eyes. I don’t know what I’d call it—fear, anger, some alien combination of the two—but it’s gone as soon as it appeared. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Robbie. He’s got a gun on his hip.”

“I’m aware, but he hasn’t reached for it once.”

“Robert—”

“Tell your men to drop their weapons. My sister is standing there next to him,” he growls. through gritted teeth. “What do you think happens if anyone opens fire?”

I can tell Hargrove doesn’t want to listen. His eyes darken, but he jerks his head towards his guards.

They hesitate for a moment longer. Then they drop their weapons back to their sides.

“As you wish, my friend. But they’re not leaving,” Hargrove sighs.

Aleks just smirks. “Wouldn’t be as much fun without the threat of gunfire.”

“Look at who you’re choosing, Olivia,” Mia hisses, pulling my focus back to her. “Violence is second nature to him. He’s a beast who talks with his fists.”

I shake my head at her. “I’m not choosing him, Mia. I’m choosing my child. And you’re the one who forced my hand. All of you.”

Mom is the only one who has the grace to look ashamed of herself.

“If you choose him, you’ll regret it, Olivia,” Mia says, advancing toward me.

Aleks curls himself around me as though Mia is the threat in the room. Everyone notices.

Mia shakes her head at him. “Oh, you’re gonna play the hero now, huh, tough guy? You’re gonna pretend to be her knight in shining armor?”

“I don’t need armor to handle an old man and his deluded sidekicks,” Aleks replies.

Hargrove’s expression doesn’t change, but I notice the scowl for a millisecond before it vanishes. That same flash of skin-crawling inhumanity. “You can sling insults at me all you like, Makarova. It doesn’t change what you’ve done.”

“Excellent point. What have I done, Hargrove?” Aleks ask casually. “Tell me. You have so much evidence piled up. Why don’t you lay it all out for the whole room to hear?”

It’s a challenge. Rob looks curious to see it play out. His eyes bounce from Hargrove to Aleks and back again.

But I know it will take more than one conversation to convince my family of the truth.

“I could give you the names of the girls whose lives you destroyed,” Hargrove says. “But you wouldn’t remember them anyway.”

“Yet another thing you’ve gotten all wrong, you sick fuck,” Aleks says. “I never forget a face.”

“Perhaps, but let’s face it: you don’t exactly consider these women to be human beings, do you?” he ponders. “You don’t see them as worthy of respect or kindness. You just use them to exorcize all your depraved lusts.”

Hargrove’s disdain is convincing. If he really did do all the things that he’s accusing Aleks of, would he be so brutally honest about them? Would he be so blunt? Is it possible that a psychopath knows how psychotic he is?

“And you know all this because…?”

“My goddaughter—”

“Ah the goddaughter,” Aleks interrupts. “Tell me, Hargrove: what’s her name?”

He scoffs. “As if I’m going to tell you. So you can track her down and kill her for outing you? I’m not as dumb as you seem to think I am, my friend.”

“Just leave my sister out of your schemes, Makarova,” Rob cuts in. “This has always been between you and me.”

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