Page 6 of The Bratva King's Twins

Letting go of a discreet breath, I tried to ignore her half-assed attempts at seeming like one of the family, and Dad’s desperation to make her exactly that.

“In fact, I was hoping—”

A loud pop traveled through the house, making us all freeze. We glanced at one another before we all looked at Dad. More loud sounds followed.

He seemed just as confused, looking toward one of the guards waiting in the hall. “What’s going on?”

The guard turned to speak to him, pulling his phone away from his ear, only for a shot to sound closer, and his mouth to hung open with surprise. Red seeped into the front of his white button-up, tainting the fabric as he dropped to the floor.

My eyes widened, and my skin froze over.

Dad stood up just as a handful of men dressed in all black rushed inside, making for us immediately. Their rifles were pointed at us, shouting at us to stay where we were.

“You,” one of them said, stepping into the room with a pistol aimed at Dad. He loomed over everyone with his great height, built as intimidatingly as possible. Like a wall of muscle, he commanded everyone’s attention with ease. “Sit. Everyone else, get up.”

Shannon was a blubbering mess as she stood, and my brothers were just as afraid, their eyes wide. When they didn’t stand fast enough, the other men swooped in and roughly brought them to their feet, forcing the barrels of their guns against their necks.

Dante’s hands were shaking, and something about it struck me.

They were terrified. For once, they were at the receiving end, forced into a state of complete fear and submission.

It was surprisingly satisfying to see, despite the circumstances.

But it was nice to watch them cower instead of me.

As soon as one of the men grabbed my arm and murmured a ‘get up’ to me, that satisfaction came crashing down, and I snapped back to the present.

Fear coursed through me then at the reality that there was a swarm of heavily armed men in our dining room, and we were all at their mercy.

I trembled in the man’s grasp, but my gaze was fixed on the man who seemed to be orchestrating the whole ordeal.

His black tee hugged every hard muscle on his body, impossible to ignore regardless of how scared I was. Even if he was wearing clothes appropriate for combat, paired with black gloves and heavy boots, he looked clean-cut, his loose black curls maintained and the sides tapered.

The moment he glanced over at me, all the oxygen in the room seemed to vanish, and I was stunned.

Those icy blue eyes found mine, hard with his fear-inducing intentions, yet a slight glimmer in them made my heart race.

He was ridiculously beautiful with his tan skin and a few tattoos peeking from beneath the short sleeves of his tee, so much so that I couldn’t look away no matter how much I wanted to.

I couldn’t understand why I was so attracted to him, especially while his gun was aimed at my dad and he ambushed our family dinner.

That eye contact felt like it lasted a lifetime until his lips barely pulled upward in a slight smirk before he faced Dad again, focusing on the task at hand.

That expression didn't reach his eyes, making them seem even darker than before.

With villain-like satisfaction, he murmured, “It’s about time we officially met, Edoardo.”

Chapter 3 - Ari

The dining room was mostly silent aside from the occasional whimper of fear from the blonde woman restrained by one of our guys. She could hardly stand it, but she had no choice.

With everyone pinned and exactly where I wanted them, I had the chance to check them all off. They were all accounted for, and the plan was going smoothly.

The alarm and confusion from the family made the room tense while they awaited my next move.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at how afraid they looked.

But as Edoardo looked at me and tried to hide just how scared he was by the whole ordeal, his fear turned into irritation.

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