Page 50 of Secret Bratva Twins

We got to the entrance, and I was pleased to see more of DeLuca’s men on the ground. Vincent rushed up and helped me with the boys.

Daylan had just been handed to my brother when heavy footsteps and the silent whooshing of a bullet pierced the air.

“Fuck!”

I knew I never should’ve danced with the asshole. I’d taken him out clean and forgotten to make his place on the floor permanent.

Blinding pain shot up my arm, and I turned around with my gun aimed at the bastard’s head. In a blink, I pulled the trigger, and we both fell to our knees. One injured, and the other dead.

Before the world went black, I saw Gianna’s smiling face and the boys’. I promised when everything was over, I’d make it right.

Chapter 19 - Gianna

They’d been gone for four hours already.

I glanced at the analog clock on my phone screen, biting my fingernails and feeling myself being driven to the brink of madness with each strike of the clock.

I paced the room. Anxiety clawed at every nerve with every step I took. I didn’t know what to do; I’d never felt completely helpless before. On the one hand, I thought it was all about the boys. I thought about them and how they must’ve fared in my father's hands.

But on the other hand, I knew all this worry was not for them alone. The look in Maxim’s eyes when he locked me in the room flashed again, and my heartache intensified.

I fell on the edge of the bed, my fingernails digging into the sheets like my life depended on it like I was holding onto every shred of sanity left.

I needed to know what was happening outside these walls, and it didn’t help that no one had said anything yet.

I picked up my phone and tried one calling someone, anyone at all. But the attempt was futile. I gritted my teeth. It took everything in me not to throw the phone against the wall.

A quiet jiggle on the door brought all my raging emotions to a standstill. I released my death grip on the sheets and shot up from the bed like there was fire. Uncertain, I took cautious steps closer.

The key went into the keyhole, and the lock turned.

When the door opened, I dropped to my knees, tears freely falling from my eyes.

“Mommy!”

Ryan and Daylan ran into my arms, and I squeezed them both, nuzzling their necks and kissing them anywhere and everywhere I could. Tears were everywhere. I didn’t know which belonged to them or me.

“We missed you so much!” They said and kissed my cheeks.

“I missed you both too.” I pulled back with a smile and raised my head to acknowledge the one who brought them in.

My smile faltered when I saw Maxim’s brother by the door—Vincent. I took the boy's hands in mine as I rose to my feet.

My heart resumed its crazy beats, pounding erratically against my ribcage when I drew closer to him. My tongue dried up like sandpaper, and I couldn’t form words; I had to force down the anxiety before opening my mouth.

“Um, wh-where is he?” I asked.

He stared at me with narrowed eyes and waited for a heartbeat before he said, “In another room.”

I licked my lips and rubbed a hand on my jeans. “Uh, why? Why is he in another room?”

“He—”

“Mommy, the man that rescued us got shot.”

The erratic heartbeats stopped, and all I heard was the loud ringing sound in my ears. Vincent was saying something, but I wasn’t listening. I gently shoved the kids to his side, asked him to watch them, and released a shaky “Where?”

With an exhale, he pointed me in the direction, and my feet moved on their own accord.

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