Page 163 of Bratva Jewels Box Set
MAXIM
“Maxim,” Sergei calls out to me as he sticks his head through my office door.
I’m staring at the picture of me and my sisters.
“I’m guessing Grace told you. How are you feeling?” he asks, taking a seat beside me.
It’s been one hell of a morning.
“Pretty fucking betrayed, Sergei.”
“Don’t worry, Dmitri’s time is up,” Sergei reassures me.
“I don’t give a fuck about that little weasel. I’m talking about Grace.”
“Grace? Why? Because she was caught snooping through your drawers? I told her you wouldn’t be too pleased about that. But she didn’t care. She thinks she has you wrapped around her little finger. And I didn’t think she did. I mean, I knew you liked her, but I didn’t realize you had fallen for her,” Sergei says, rambling on.
“Falling for her? She betrayed me and used my dead sister’s memory to do it.”
“What are you talking about, Max?”
“That she would use my sister to get back to her family. Asking me to call her sister to confirm her ridiculous theory that Elena is one of the jewels,” I say, shaking my head at the absurdity of her lies.
“Max, she’s telling the truth. I didn’t think so at first then I pulled a gun on her, and she didn’t change her story.”
“You pulled a fucking gun on her?” I say, raising my voice at him.
“I needed to know because like you, I accused her of using Elena and Anna’s memory for something like that.”
I look at him and see the belief on his face. “You’re serious?”
“Of course, I fucking believe her. There’s no way in the world she
could have guessed who she was. She asked me about the photo, told me it was Emerald, and I told her she was wrong. That that was your sister and your sister died, along with my daughter. But she didn’t believe me—she was adamant that the girl in the picture was Emerald.”
I shake my head; I still don’t believe it. There is no way that after four years, my sister is rising from the dead right under my nose. Just no way.
“Maxim, she’s telling the truth.”
I slam my fist on the desk. “No, you want to believe it’s true, but it’s not, there’s just no way.”
“Why? Why can’t it be true? There were no bodies found, Max.”
I keep shaking my head. “I wish to God it were true, Sergei, but don’t you think it’s a weird coincidence that the girl we kidnapped knows where my dead sister is?”
“She said Elena is a jewel.”
“Wouldn’t we have run into her by now? We would have heard something.”
“Grace is the first jewel we’ve met in all our years dealing with the Bratva. Do you think they would place us in the same room as her?”
I still don’t believe it. My heart can’t cope with the thought that Elena might be alive.
“What about Anna?”
He shakes his head. “She hasn’t seen Anna.”
“See, that right there is a lie. If they were alive, there is no way in
