Page 75 of Bratva Bride

"We're wasting time!" Alessandro snapped.

It was the first time I had heard him speak since Theodora was taken. I was terrified of what Arturo’s reaction would be when he found out. He was still unconscious from the initial attack after suffering a serious blow to the head. As soon as I was finished here, I planned to be at his side, taking care of him.

What a way to spend your wedding night, huh?

"My daughter is out there somewhere, with these filthy men doing God knows what to her while we sit here talking!" Anger pulsed through him, enough to make even me a little uneasy.

Father watched him intently, his face softening the slightest bit. He rose from his chair and strode across the room. He lowered to his hunches, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder."Moy drug,"My friend, "I promise you; we will find her. We will find the men that took her, get her back and make them pay."

Interesting.

I've never seen my father comfort someone like that before. Only my brothers and I and only when the situation absolutely called for it. He obviously had some deep history with Alessandro, more than what I had originally thought.

A faint tapping sound had me looking around the room in confusion.

What is that?

Aleksandr watched me closely, his brows furrowed as I slowly walked around the room, hunting for the sound.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

There it was again!

I shoved Aleksandr and Lukyan to the side and got down on my hands and knees. I tapped on the hidden trap door behind my father's desk.

Not a lot of people knew about it. Just my father's most trusted soldiers and obviously my brothers and me.

When I got a response of three more taps, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that someone was in there. But who? Who else knew about it apart from the people in this room?

I grabbed the latch and opened the trap door, completely taken by surprise by who was on the other end.

Nadia Petrov, Andrei's daughter.

We were close growing up. Our mothers were best friends so in a way, we were too. Until that dreadful day ten years ago. It wasn't only my mother that was killed but Nadia's too.

You would have thought something like that would have brought us closer together. That we would have leaned on each other for comfort and support during such a difficult time, but no. It was the opposite.

Nadia blamed me, blamed my family for the death of her mother. And in a way, she had a right to. It was us the Voznesenskys wanted dead, and unfortunately Nadia's mother was collateral damage to them. After their deaths, we fell apart, only speaking when the occasion called for it. Like now. I was surprised she was even here at my wedding. Her father must have dragged her here.

"Nadia." I tried to mask all those repressed feelings wafting through me at having seen her and reached down, offering her a hand.

She hesitated for only a few seconds before accepting it and climbing out.

"Nadia?" Andrei's deep voice came from behind me." What are you doing in there? I thought you left after the ceremony?" He moved to her side, his eyes scanning over her, looking for injuries.

Nadia's chocolate brown eyes found her father's and she smiled reassuringly. "I was on my way out when the explosion happened." She flicked her auburn hair over her shoulder as she bent back down to the trap door. "I found this little one being dragged outside by a few of those fuckers. I had no clue who she was, who her parents were, so I hid her in here until it all blew over."

Theodora's beautiful face popped out from the trap door, her emerald eyes glistening with tears and her face red from crying.

The second Alessandro spotted her, he jumped off the couch and ran for her, wrapping her into a tight embrace."La mia bambina! Stai bene? Sei ferito? Ero cosi preoccupato per te, principessa."My little girl! Are you okay? Are you hurt? I was so worried about you, princess.

"Padre!"Father!Theodora cried. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, wrapping her limbs around his body like a spider monkey.

Alessandro ran a hand up and down her back comfortingly, kissing her hair and whispering soothing words in Italian.

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