Page 81 of Shattered Cradle (Makarova Bratva Duet)

She smiles. “They both did. They had their wills written up in their early forties, ‘just in case.’ They rewrote it a couple of times, but nothing much changed.” Then she takes a deep breath and the smile falls off her face. “My brother and sister probably want to sell the house.”

“Who gets to decide that?”

“Mom and Dad wanted all three of us to have it. So we either sell and split the profit three ways, or figure out who’s gonna buy out who.”

“What do you want to do?”

She shrugs. “I’ll let Mia and Rob decide.”

“Because that’s easier than talking to them?”

She scrunches her eyebrows together. “I just… Things are hard enough as it is. If I go in there and ask for something different, it will get complicated.”

“You want the house you grew up in. You don’t want it sold to strangers. What’s complicated about that?”

“I guess I don’t want to cause trouble.”

“You know, if you make it easy for people to bully you, they will,” I tell her.

She looks at me thoughtfully. “I guess you have a point.”

“If you want something, fight for it.”

“Fighting is not my forte.”

“Then practice,” I say. “Why should you lie down and let them take the reins?”

“I’m just too tired to fight. And honestly, I don’t really want to see Mia just yet.”

I catch a note in her voice. “What happened?”

She shudders at the memory. “She said something awful to me today. Several somethings, actually. I know she was just trying to hurt me, but that doesn’t make me feel better.”

“She blamed you for your mother’s death, didn’t she?”

Olivia’s eyes go wide, confirming it. “How did you know?”

“I pay attention,” I say. “Your sister is blaming you because it’s easier than blaming herself.”

“I doubt she feels guilty.”

“Oh, she does,” I say confidently. “Your sister is being eaten alive by grief, and she has a sick bastard whispering filthy lies in her ear. Rationality isn’t possible for her.”

“Well, whatever he’s saying, she believes it. And maybe…”

“Maybe what?” I growl. “Don’t tell me you’re believing them, too.”

“I’m just saying, maybe there’s a third option here.” She worries at the rings on her fingers, eyes flitting everywhere except for at mine.

“Which is?”

“Maybe he really is innocent.”

I start to snarl, “Olivia—”

But she interrupts. “Listen to me, please, Aleks. I’m just saying, maybe there’s someone else out there. Someone trying to get you two to go at each other’s throats. You’ve said yourself you have a lot of enemies. It could be one of them. That’s all I’m suggesting.”

I shake my head. “Not a fucking chance.”

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