Page 67 of Bratva King's Secret Twins

“So, I am assumingJohanna’sis your mother’s club?” I whisper,dabbing the cloth against his face, wiping away the tension that seems to cling to him like a shadow.

“When she owned the club, it was called Vivi’s.” He snorts, a small smile dancing on his lips. “I changed it to her name the first chance I got.”

“What’s wrong with Vivi’s? I like the name.”

“Another reason my mother would have loved you.” He chuckles as I continue to glide my fingers down his back. "She thought Vivi's sounded like a fun place, but the club itself looked ridiculous.”

“How so?Johanna’slooks so elegant now.”

“It used to be covered in fake tulips. My mom adored flowers, but she had a bad pollen allergy so her solution was plastic flowers.” He lets out a small laugh before gazing off into the distance and then clearing his throat. “But it looks much better now, and my mother's name was Johanna. It just seems like a more fitting name for the club.”

“I agree that Johanna is a great name, but Vivi’s sounds like a good time.” I poke his nose with the washcloth. A hesitant smile spreads on his lips quickly and disappears just as fast.

Nik leans back against the tub’s edge, his eyes closing as I continue to run the washcloth over his skin, trying to ease the tension that’s still coiled tight in his muscles. We fall into an easy silence, just the sloshing of water and the light strokes of the washcloth across his body.

“You know, I was named after my grandmother,” I say quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. “Her name was Gwendolyn, too. My mom used to talk about her like she was some perfect, elegant lady—someone to admire. But the truth is, she abandoned my mother when she was just a kid.”

“What do you mean abandoned?” Nik shifts to look at me more clearly with furrowed brows and his lips in a hard line.

“It’s the curse of the Sharp girls, we have babies that we can’t raise. The pressure of motherhood gets to them and they leave.” My voice gets quieter, my mouth drying as I realize that I left my children, that I am no better than my mother. My voice cracks slightly as I speak. “My mom thought she could handle it, that she could break the cycle and be a good mom. But when things got hard…she ended up doing the same thing her mother did. She left me, too.”

The words hang in the air, and I feel a sting in the back of my throat. I focus on the rhythmic motion of the cloth against Nik’s skin. Nik reaches out and gently catches my wrist, stopping the motion of the cloth.

“Come here,” he murmurs, his voice softer than I’ve ever heard it, and I slip between his legs, the warm water enveloping me. He leans in and places a tender kiss on my temple before pulling me closer, wrapping his arms around me from behind. I lean back into him, resting my back against his chest. “I will never abandon you,” he whispers in my ear.

“But I already abandoned you once.”

“I won’t let you do it again,” he whispers in my hair. “You will stay, and we will be great parents one day.”

His words punch me in the chest, the guilt suffocating me, and I feel like I am drowning again.

My body leans against his solid chest, closing my eyes as I soak in his belief in me. "I wish I had even a fraction of the faith you have in me," I whisper.

His hand rests on my bent knee, his thumb tracing soothing circles as he speaks with conviction. “When you see yourselfthe way I see you, there will be nothing that can stand in your way, Kotik, not even me.”

Tears prick at the corners of my eyes as I nod, biting my lip and fighting the urge to share everything with him right here and now. I just have to hold on a little longer. Once Boris is dealt with, I’ll introduce him to the kids. I will tell him about Mason and the debt. I have to, because Nik deserves to know his children, and they deserve to be in the family Nik believes we can give them.

“But until then,” he kisses my shoulder, “we can always practice, make sure we get our first born done right.”

34

GWEN

Nik’s voice is low and husky as he whispers in my ear, “Don’t worry, Kotik, practice makes perfect.”

His hands glide down my arms, guiding them to rest on the edge of the tub. His touch sends shivers down my spine, and I feel his arousal pressing against my lower back.

“Nik,” I breathe out, turning slightly to meet his gaze. His eyes lock onto mine, and the weight of my secrets threatens to spill over. Tears well up in my eyes, but one of his big, calloused hands trails up my arm while the other wraps around my waist, resting on my stomach. I nearly break under the weight of everything I’m holding in.

Seeing my tear-filled eyes, he pulls me closer. “Kotik, don’t you dare cry. There’s nowhere you could hide from me. I will always be there.”

His voice is laced with a confidence that tightens the knot in my throat. His words cut deep, making it clear that running isn’t an option, even as dread twists my stomach at the thought of him discovering our children. But instead of tellinghim the truth, I lean in, letting him capture me in this moment. Our lips meet in a tender kiss, the taste of him mixed with the faint sweetness of lavender.

As we kiss, I shift my position, twisting around and straddling him in the tub. The water sloshes gently as I move, the warmth of it enveloping us both. Nik’s hands find my hips, steadying me as I settle onto his lap with his cock bobbing slightly above the water in between us. He breaks the kiss, whispering against my lips, “What are you doing, love?”

I slap on my most mischievous grin, pushing down any sadness that wells in my chest and say, “I think for our first, I should be on top, don’t you think?”

His eyes darken to that Atlantic blue that makes me want to drown in him, and he tightens his grip on my hips, bringing my core right on top of his cock. He rocks my hips, sliding me over himself, once…then twice, and I can see the growing wetness between my legs, and trust me, it has nothing to do with the tub.

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