Page 13 of Secret Bratva Twins

“You’re not going anywhere. Come at me when you need to vent. Ms. Popov isn’t the person keeping you captive.”

“She’s an accomplice,” I shot back, angry that he was defending her. Raging that somewhere in his sick head, he thought this was okay.

I was even more angry at the ache in my core. That pulsating throbbing between my legs made me wish I could kiss him one last time. Maybe it was me who was sick in the head because I’d missed him. There wasn’t a single day that passed that I didn’t think of him, whether because I hated him or because I had truly loved him.

“No one here is an accomplice,” he said, his tone softer than I expected. Too gentle for someone whose prisoner just tried to escape. “They work for me. I give the orders, and they obey.”

I scoffed at the ridiculousness. “Would they jump into a fire because you asked them to?”

“Their royalty runs that deep,” he replied. I didn’t know if he realized it or not, but his fingers were rubbing my waist, awakening a deep longing in my chest.

“To a man like you?” I laughed to his face just to annoy him. “It seems to me like their priorities are misplaced.”

He stared at me intently, his eyes boring into mine as if he were searching for something in my soul. “You’ve changed so much, Gianna,” he whispered. “What the hell happened to you?”

My hands balled into fists by my side. He knew what he did to me, what he did to my mother. Yet here he was, looking at me with those cloudy eyes and pretending he didn’t know why I hated him.

“You happened, Maxim.” I paused, closing my eyes to inhale and hold back my tears. “I should never have met you. I should never have loved you.”

“That’s rich coming from you, Gia. You tried to kill me just hours ago.” He cups my cheek, and I shrink away from his touch. I should’ve felt disgusted by him, not wanting to melt in his arms. “Is this because I abandoned you?”

So this was it. He was going to keep pretending he didn’t know what he did? “Think long and hard. Maybe you’ll remember you did more than abandon me.”

I glanced at the French door. A part of me wished I could run out of it and be free from him. I knew that I couldn’t. It would take more than determination to escape Maxim.

For now, I was going to return to my room, but I wasn’t going to give up. I’d fight him and try to run from him even if I had to for the rest of my life.

Chapter 6 - Maxim

“The girl will starve herself to death,” Ms. Popov said as I stepped into the kitchen. Her brows furrowed with worry.

It’d been a day since I kidnapped Gianna. Since her escape failed, she’d refused to eat or drink anything—that stubborn woman. I hadn’t gone up to see her since our encounter last night, but the things she said to me had been troubling me.

Think long and hard, maybe you’ll remember you did more than abandon me.

What did she mean by that? I wasn’t justifying abandoning her, but I could feel it in my bones that the resentment she felt for me was deeper than it seemed. I’d mulled over her words all night, but still, I’d come up with nothing.

“Are you listening, Maxim?”

I snapped my head to Ms. Popov. “What?”

“You need to buy her new clothes,” she said, pouring a can of beans into a plate. “Your clothes will look ridiculous on her.”

She would have to wear whatever Ms. Popov gave her. I couldn’t risk her going outside and yelling she’d been kidnapped. Half the police force in Chicago worked for my family, so I didn’t expect it to be much of a problem, but avoiding too much public attention was better.

“What’s for dinner?” I asked. I’d pretty much starved today. I’d gone to the warehouse to record the shipment we received last night and make sure nothing was missing. Then, I visited Sergey, but I didn’t have time to eat before I came back home.

I hoped she wouldn’t say beans. I was too hungry for that.

Ms. Popov blinked at me, a smile on her thin lips. “Chicken pasta. This one’s for the girl.”

“One of my men will take it to her. I don’t want last night to repeat itself.” Gianna thought Ms. Popov was a maid, but she was as much of a family to me as my brothers. She’d been my nanny when I was a kid. She left Chicago to stay with her family in Russia after I went to college and returned when I graduated.

She was almost like a mother to me, and I wasn’t going to allow anyone to disrespect her or point a knife to her neck. Not even Gianna.

“No, you’ll be taking this to her,” Ms. Popov said as she threw the can in the trash. “Maybe she’ll eat it if you do.”

“Maybe not.” On second thought, I could shove the food down her throat just to keep her alive. She could hate me all she wanted, but I wasn’t going to sit by and watch her starve. “I’ll do it.”

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