Page 2 of Secret Bratva Twins

The corners of his mouth wrinkled as he smirked. “They’re somewhere safe. You’ll see them after you complete the task I have for you.”

“I refuse to be your killing machine again. Let me and my children go.” My voice choked with emotions. “Please, Papa.”

His expression didn’t change one bit. His face was just as hardened as I remembered it, his eyes void of emotion. “Kill Maxim Vadim. That is all you have to do, and the children are all yours.”

“And if I refuse?”

He shrugged. “You’ll die, and I’ll raise them as I see fit. Hopefully, they won’t be as useless as you.”

“Useless?” I sneered, my fists clenched by my side. “You used me, Papa. You ruined my life, and now I’m useless? You’ll never raise my children, I’ll be dead before I allow you to do that to them.”

“Then it’s simple,” he said with a sardonic tone. “Bring me Maxim’s head, and you can raise your bastards as you see fit.”

My chest tightened, a wave of fury mixing with the bitterness in my stomach. I hated Maxim for killing my mother, and although my children were his blood, they were mine, too, and I loved them with every fiber of my existence. I despised that my own father spoke about them in such a condescending tone.

“My children are not bastards.”

“Are they legitimate then?” He flashed a sardonic smile at me when I didn’t answer. “You sneaked out from home and fucked your mother’s killer like a whore. Neither you nor they deserve any respect.”

A maniac laugh bubbled in my chest, one so loud it echoed in the expanse living room of my father’s new manor. We’d lived in New York before I ran away to Chicago. I’d expected him to try and find me, not because he loved me, but because he was the type of man with an ego that was too fat for him. I knew he’d find me just to prove to everyone that he could put a leash on his daughter.

The fact that he bought a manor in New York is really suspicious. Knowing my father, he was up to something dubious—something that would wreck and ruin lives and families. Whatever game he was here to play, I know I’m an essential piece on the checkerboard.

“Isn’t that what you raised me to do? To seduce men and lure them to you so you could kill them?” I looked him in the eyes, my hatred mirrored in his. “My blood is filthy because I am your daughter. My children have your blood running in their veins, too, and I despise that more than anything.”

A flicker of emotion creased his brows, and then it was gone. It’d vanished. He wouldn’t allow himself to feel anything for me or his grandchildren. “Make your choice, Gianna. Think wisely before you do. You can either die here this afternoon or kill Maxim and live in peace with your children. Which will it be?”

That was a lie, he would never let me go even if I killed Maxim. He would always have something for me to do—someone for me to lure to him. It was a never-ending cycle with him. Still, if there was a glimmer of hope, a chance that I could escape his clutches, no matter how tiny it was, I was willing to take it for the sake of the twins.

“When do you need him?”

He flashed a wicked smile at me. Heaven knew I would’ve loved to smack that smile off his face. “You made the right choice, child. Bring him to me tomorrow night. Alive.”

I scoffed. As if Maxim would allow me to put a gun to his head and drive him down here. It would’ve been a lot easier to kill him. “That’s not possible. I won’t get a chance to walk within five inches of him before he kills me.”

“The Vadims are expecting a shipment tomorrow night. You’ll have to find a way to get in.”

A way.

There was only one way I could get Maxim. I needed to isolate him from his brothers to get him. Together, they were impenetrable. I wouldn’t stand a chance against them regardless of how many of my father’s men I went to him.

Even then, I could still fail.

“That’s suicide, Papa. He won’t spare me if he catches me,” I said, my gut wrenching with panic at the thought of meeting Maxim again.

I’d never forgotten the night he left me; how I’d been so happy to break the news of my pregnancy to him and tell him that I wanted us to run away together from my father and the mafia. The look in his eyes when he told me I was nothing to him and he never wanted to see my face again, still haunted me.

Then I went home that night, and my mama was dead. He’d killed her in cold blood. I was never going to forgive him for that.

I hated him. Despised the sound of his name and dreaded the thought of looking into his eyes once more before I killed him—or maybe he would be the one to kill me.

My papa nodded to his men, signaling them to leave the room. When the last of them was out, he began to circle me like a predator to his prey. “You’re smart, Gianna. You’ll come up with something.”

“Nice compliment coming from you at a time like this,” I retorted. I had no idea what he expected, but I was no longer that little girl who craved his approval. He could take it and shove it up his ass for all I cared. He was never my father. He was just a man who turned me into a killing machine and a seductress for his enemies.

“We don’t have much time to waste, daughter.” He stopped circling me, holding his hands behind his back.

The air between us cracked with tension. Ryan and Daylan’s voice seeped in from their room upstairs. My boys, my world. They were only five years old. They’d never had to live a day without me, and now my father wanted to take them away from me.

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