Shattered Crown: A Dark Mafia Age Gap Romance (Kozlov Empire Book 4)

Consciousness creeps back to me like a thief, slow and stealthy. My eyes flutter open, and it takes me a minute to realize I’m in a familiar room. The worn wallpaper, the sturdy oak dresser, a patchwork quilt on the wall. This is my aunt’s cabin in the woods. What am I doing here?

Memories flood back in a torrent. Nadya, her gun, her cold voice as she ordered me into the car. The sharp sting of a needle. I have no idea how long I’ve been out or how the hell Nadya knows about this place, but my only priority is getting out of here.

As I try to roll over, I’m unable to move. My wrists and ankles are bound to the bedposts, the rope biting into my skin. Panic claws at my throat, my pulse racing. I thrash at my restraints and cry for help, even though I’m well aware of how isolated this cabin is. My voice comes out croaky and weak, but still, I have to do something.

“Don’t bother. There’s no one around to hear you.”

That voice.

I scan the room, and there she is. Nadya, rocking methodically in the chair beside the bed, the clicking of her knitting needles filling the otherwise quiet space.

“Why are we here?’ I rasp, swallowing the fear that’s thick in my throat.

She doesn’t bother to look up. “It’s where your aunt was hiding before her death, and now it’s where I’m keeping you until your final breath. Isn’t that fitting?” A shadow of a smile crosses Nadya’s face, and it’s creepy as hell.

‘Why … why are you doing this?’

‘You should have been put down a long time ago,’ she says simply as if that explains everything. ‘You were meant to die with Masha. I’m finishing the job since your father’s not around to do it himself.”

Dread pools deep in my belly. “You killed Masha?”

Nadya stops knitting, finally locking eyes with me. ‘No. I only lured her out of hiding. Your father did the actual torture and killing. Made a special trip from New York to ensure the job was done right. Of course, Masha wouldn’t give up your location. It’s why she died in such an ugly way—protecting you.”

Bile rises in my throat. The ropes allow me enough leeway to turn and retch up my last meal over the side of the bed.

Nadya doesn’t seem to notice or care—she’s in her own world.

‘How could you?’ I gasp, tears of anger and heartbreak streaming down my face. ‘Masha was innocent. She did nothing to deserve such a brutal end!”

Nadya doesn’t flinch. With an eerie calm, she sets her knitting aside, her hands resting in her lap. ‘Your aunt got exactly what she deserved, and so will you.’

“No one deserves to die like that. What could you possibly have against us? All we did was rid the world of a madman.”

With a sudden, violent motion, Nadya flings her knitting aside. “You killed the love of my life! Do you believe I should forgive that?”

My mind races, trying to process her words. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Nadya’s eyes flash with fury. “Then let me enlighten you. I want you to go to your grave knowing exactly what you stole from me.” A shudder races down my spine, the word “grave” echoing with a foreboding chill. “I was young once too, in love with a man named Arkady. He was a high-ranking member of the Antonov Bratva. A powerful man. And a married one—a typical bratva arranged marriage—but what we had was real. We were in love.” She pauses, a haunted look in her eyes. “He moved to the US when your father expanded operations there, but whenever he visited Russia, it was our time to be together. We were discreet, of course—I’m not some common whore—but I was part of Arkady’s world. It’s how I met Masha, though we were acquaintances, nothing more. This was before she turned against your father and exposed herself as a deceitful backstabber.’

“Masha was no traitor! She was loyal to the Antonov Bratva to the very end.” Heat flares in my cheeks as a wave of anger courses through me.

Nadya doesn’t stop there. ‘Arkady died during the bloody ambush that you and your aunt had planned at the Antonov’s warehouse. He took the fatal bullet meant for your father.”

“My father was the one who betrayed everyone’s trust by manipulating the family’s honor for his own ambitions.”

My words fall on deaf ears. It’s like Nadya is in her own bubble, completely oblivious to my protest.

‘When I heard Arkady was gone, I couldn’t leave my bed for a week,’ Nadya rasps, her eyes shadowed by the memory. “I hadn’t seen him in years—life got in the way—but he was still mine. So when Oleg needed someone to draw Masha out, I was more than happy to help.” She sneers at the mention of my aunt. “Masha saw me as a neutral third party. She had no idea of her role in Arkady’s death. I used Maxim’s power, promising Masha that my loyal employer would protect her … and you. She gave up her hiding spot—this shitty cabin—like that.” She snaps her fingers to make her point. “Masha trusted me and that led her straight to her grave, where she belonged for taking Arkady from me.”

The air feels thick as her confession sinks in, suffocating, like a heavy stone in my chest. My heart aches—not for myself but for Masha, for the twisted path of loss and betrayal that’s led us here.

But the past can’t be undone. My only hope lies in convincing Nadya that killing me is pointless.

“Maxim loves me. He’ll tear the world apart to find me.” I can only pray my words are true. “You’ll never get away with this. When he discovers what you’ve done, he’ll kill you, and it will be ten times worse than what you’ve done to me.”

‘That’s why Maxim will never know. In fact’ — she looks at her wristwatch and gathers up her knitting — ‘his plane will be landing soon, and I need to go back to the estate to comfort him. His pregnant wife left him, escaped in the middle of the night. It’s a terrible thing.’

She’s going to feed Maxim a story that I abandoned him after discovering my pregnancy. The worst part is, with no sign of abduction, he might believe her when he realizes I’m gone.

Dread washes over me. ‘You wouldn’t!’

‘I absolutely would.’ Nadya reaches down, grasping my chin between her thumb and forefinger. I thrash my head to loosen her grip, but she’s surprisingly strong. ‘You have no idea what I’m capable of. You think I’m a monster, but everything I’ve done has been in the name of avenging Arkady’s death and shielding Maxim from more hurt and heartbreak.”

“You’re delusional. What you’re doing to me will hurt him. This will break his heart.”

She shakes her head vehemently, unwilling to listen to me. “You weren’t there for the days after Ilya’s death. I never want to see him like that again.” Nadya’s voice cracks, eyes clouded with grief. “Maxim is so much like my Arkady. I couldn’t protect him, but I will protect Maxim.”

My stomach twists. Nadya’s judgment is so clouded by the past that she can’t see the harm she’s causing now.

She shrugs on her coat before turning to me and tilting her head. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back as soon as I can, to put you down once and for all.”

Desperation grips my throat, panic lighting up every nerve. “No, Nadya. Please, don’t do this. Listen,” I beg, my voice cracking with urgency. “I’m carrying Maxim’s child—think about what you’re doing. You’re not only killing his wife but also his unborn child. If you truly care for him, how can you do this?”

Her expression twists into one of pure rage, more horrifying than I’ve ever seen. “A child he never wanted! After one disastrous marriage, I’m saving him from another.”

She hurls a glass vase against the wall and it shatters, pieces scattering across the floor. A single shard lands beside me on the bed.

“You stupid whore, you’ve done this to yourself.”

With a swift motion, Nadya pulls out a needle and plunges it into my neck before I can react. The drug courses through my veins as she spins and leaves.

Hopelessness wraps around me, and my final thoughts before I’m dragged down into the darkness are of Maxim.

This can’t be the end, not when I haven’t told him how I really feel.

That I love him. That he’s the only one for me.

That I’m willing to stand by his side—forever.