Page 56 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

Everything ruptures into chaos at once. Mia is screaming, Rob is roaring, Aleks is snarling, Hargrove and his men are bristling, as the scent of impending violence builds and builds and I wonder if we’re hurtling unstoppably towards some kind of horrifying ending…

And then, amongst it all, I see my mother.

I’m the only one looking at her. The only one who notices the way her face has gone pale and ashen.

“Mom?” My voice is small. It gets lost in the shuffle.

But Mom hears me.

Her eyes meet mine and immediately, I know I was right: something bad is coming.

But not in the way I thought it was.

Her left side stiffens like it’s been turned to stone. Her face slumps, her shoulder slumps, her leg seizes up hard.

The shouting of the others rises to such a din that their voices ring in my ears, indecipherable from one another, just a churning mélange of rage that can’t ever be bottled up again.

“Mom!” I cry, darting out of Aleks’s grasp and running for her.

She crumples to the floor, but I manage to get to her just in time to keep her from hitting her head.

Rob is the next to realize something is wrong. When he does, he sprints to her other side. Together, we help ease her down onto the cold tile floor.

Her eyes flutter, but they never leave mine.

“Mom,” I breathe, shaking her. “Mom, Mom, listen to me—”

She tries to raise her hand, but it’s too heavy. So I lift it for her and place it against my cheek like she was trying to do.

In the background, I hear someone call for a doctor. But just like I knew something was wrong, I know the doctor won’t get here in time.

I know it will be too late.

Her mouth opens and she forms words. I bend my head down to try and catch them.

“Sorry…”

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “You have nothing to feel sorry about. Mom, just stay with me. Please.”

She gives me a half smile. “Your… father…”

“Not yet,” I tell her. “It’s too early for you to meet him.”

“Remember what he...”

She gasps a little, as though the pain is too much to wade through. Then her hand goes limp and I let it fall from my cheek.

Her eyes remain open.

But my mother is gone.

14

ALEKS

Olivia looks up at me as her siblings crowd around her mother’s body.

The look in her eyes is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The kind of grief that runs so deep you can’t possibly let it out for fear it will destroy you.

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