Chapter 7 - Bloodlines and Broken PromisesThe room went entirely silent.
"What... what did you just say?" I breathed, my heart stopping dead in my chest.
"Sergei took your boys before the car was pushed off the highway," Michael confessed, taking a slow, heavy step toward me. "He's been holding them in a black-site facility in Eastern Europe for three months to use as leverage against me. He wanted control of the Volkov syndicate."
My mind exploded into a thousand pieces. My babies... my sweet little boys... were alive?
"Why didn't you tell me?!" I screamed, beating my fists against Michael’s chest. "Why did you keep me here like a prisoner while my children were suffering in some hellhole?!"
Michael caught my wrists, holding them firm yet gentle.
"Because if Sergei found out you knew, he would have executed them immediately," Michael hissed softly. "I needed you safe. And when you showed up on my plane... when you fed Mia... I realized fate had brought us together. Elena isn't Mia's mother, Emily. Elena was Sergei's agent. Mia... Mia is your husband's child."
I stared at him, utterly paralyzed. "What...?"
"Your husband had a child with another woman before he met you—a daughter he gave up for adoption to keep her safe from the mob," Michael revealed, his voice laced with heavy regret. "Mia is your stepdaughter. She is the last piece of your husband left in this world."
The ground seemed to tilt beneath my feet. The entire narrative of my life over the past three months was a terrifying, intricate web of mob wars, deep secrets, and unbelievable twists.
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"Where are my boys, Michael?" I choked out, gripping his shirt. "Take me to my sons!"
"I will," Michael swore, his dark eyes burning with deadly intent. "But Sergei just launched an attack on this house. We have five minutes before this fortress becomes a war zone."
