Page 20 of Secret Bratva Twins

I didn’t bother correcting her. It wasn’t time to tell her that her perception of what happened was wrong. I could live with her hating me, but I couldn’t live with the fact that someone was hurting her. “I’m never letting you go back there.”

“You can’t do that, he’s still my father.”

I slammed my hand on the dining table, and she flinched. “He hurt you, and I’m going to protect you from him.”

“And who is going to protect me from you?”

“No one can protect you from me, darling.” I stood, angling over the table. “You were mine six years ago, and you are mine now. There’s no one who can take you from me, and there’s no corner of the world you’ll run to that I wouldn’t find you.”

That was the truth.

If she hadn’t found her way back to me, I would’ve turned the world upside down just to find her. I didn’t care if it would take ten or fifty years, I would’ve found her. I wouldn’t have stopped looking for her.

“You’re the person I need to be protected from.”

I stood up, rounding the table to her and cupping her cheeks. “Do you really want to be protected from me, Gianna?”

She didn’t answer. Her throat moved as she swallowed, and she visibly tensed at my touch.

“I thought as much.” My fingers moved, trailing her plump lips. They were so tempting that it took all my self-control not to bend over and kiss her. “Do you know how long I looked for you?”

Her breath hitched, and her eyes darkened with a hunger only I could satiate. Her nipples hardened and poked against the fabric of the white shirt she was wearing. I wanted to tease and twist them until she was moaning my name. I wondered what I would find if I slipped my hand inside her shorts. A pool of wetness, most likely. “Why did you look for me?”

“Because what I felt for you six years ago was real.” I lowered my face to hers and kept our lips only an inch apart. She smelled like strawberry. Soft and mouth-watering. “I never forgot you, Gianna. Not even once.”

“I forgot you.” She almost spat the words out. “I hated you—still hate you. I never loved you. Your touch—”

I place a finger on her lips. “Shhh. Stop lying to me, Gianna. You loved me, you still want me, and you dream about me.”

“You’re delusional,” she whispered, her chest caving.

A dark chuckle rumbled in my throat. “Am I now?” My dick thickened in my slacks, my body begging for release. I’d go ballistic if I didn’t get to feel her soon. I’d missed her very much and dreamt of her every night since I left New York.

If I kissed her, would she kiss me back? I could try, but she was vulnerable right now, and I didn’t want to take advantage of her. I pulled away, almost missing the disappointment in her eyes when I did.

“I don’t know what I’ll do to your father, Gianna. But heaven help me that I find him.” I’d torture him, tearing him apart limb by limb. I’d give him a fate worse than death, then I’d watch as he withered away.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. When I took it out, a private number flashed on my screen. Gianna’s eyes flickered to mine, and I turned and took a few steps away from her to answer the call.

A sardonic chuckle echoed at the end of the line. “We finally get to speak to each other, Vadim.”

I tucked a hand in my pocket. My instincts picked up who it was the second I heard that infuriating laughter. I didn’t want him to think of himself as anyone important, so I asked, “Who are you?”

“Consider me someone who has something you’d find very important and useful.”

My jaw ticked, I didn’t have time for Paul DeLuca’s games and bullshit. “Get right to the point before I hang up.”

“You have my daughter,” he said, his voice stern.

I turned around and glanced at Gianna. Her gaze was fixed on me inquisitively. “I do. I see that’s why you called. Do you have anything interesting to trade her for?”

I wouldn’t trade her for even a million diamonds, but he didn’t need to know that. I needed to lure him to me somehow.

He laughed. “She’s a woman. A damaged property that is of no value to me. You can keep her.”

Anger spiraled from the pit of my stomach. “You misogynistic pig. Did you call me because you’re miserable and need someone to share it with? If so, I’d like to inform you that you’re more of a damaged property than she is.”

“Is that you turning down my offer?”

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