Page 9 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

I wait for their reactions, but for three endless seconds, there’s nothing.

And then… there’s too much.

“Pregnant?” Mom says, gaping at me. A second later, she bursts into tears.

Mia is torn between attending to me and attending to Mom. She lands on wrapping her arm around Mom’s shoulders and grabbing my hand at the same time.

“Oh, munchkin,” she says. “I can’t imagine what you must have been through. That fucking monster—”

“He didn’t rape me.”

Mom looks at me through her tears. Mia’s grip on my hand loosens.

“What?” they both breathe at once.

I take a deep breath, but it doesn’t help in the slightest. “He didn’t rape me. It was consensual.”

“Youchoseto sleep with that bastard?” Mia asks, disbelief in her eyes.

Monster. Bastard. Criminal. Enemy.

I look around at my family, and I realize that, in their eyes, Aleks is the pure, uncut villain of this story.

“We met when my flight was delayed,” I explain for the second time in as many minutes. “It was before I knew who he was.”

I feel cowardly omitting the part where I slept with him again long after knowing who he was and what he’d done.

But I can’t bear to take on any more of their judgment. It’s just too much.

My own judgment is bad enough.

“Oh,” is all Mom can say.

Mia still looks furious. “It doesn’t matter, Liv. It may not have been rape in the traditional sense. But he took advantage of you. He knew what he was doing. He slept with you knowing what he was going to do. It’s the same thing.”

“I think that may be overstating things,” I venture.

Mia’s jaw drops. “Tell me you’re joking.”

“I… I know what it seems like. But I found out things when I was there,” I say. “I discovered the truth about what happened.”

Mia frowns. “What kind of truth?”

“He didn’t commit the crimes that you think he did. He hasn’t abducted anyone.”

“Are you forgetting what he did toyou?!”

I shake my head. “That’s different.”

Mom looks like she’s close to tears again. She’s silent, barely able to breathe.

Mia exchanges a glance with Rob that makes me feel small and stupid. When she turns to me, her expression is soft, almost tender.

“Honey, you’ve always wanted to see the best in people. It’s admirable, but… maybe a little naive.”

I feel a lash of sudden anger. I expected this from Rob, but not from Mia. In an instant, she reduces me down to the shy, uncertain little girl I used to be.

And just like that, I let her.

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