I should punish her, but what good would it do? She already has it in her mind that I’ve kidnapped her. And I can’t let her go, not if the kids are mine. I’d never see them again if it were up to her.
“Would you prefer to keep company with your brother downstairs?” I threaten.
The twins have no idea what I’m talking about, but the color drains right out of Aleksandra’s face. “You wouldn’t do that,” she says.
“I don’t do that with guests, but you seem hell-bent on believing that I’m not keeping you as a guest. If the accommodations aren’t to your liking, then I can have you moved downstairs.”
“Please don’t do that,” she rasps. She doesn’t beg, but I’m sure it would come to that if I dragged her down the basement steps.
I gesture for her to step out of the office for a moment. I don’t want Sophia or Liam to overhear our conversation.
She stands from behind the desk and comes around to the door, accompanying me out into the hallway.
“Sir,” Mario says.
“Give us a moment,” I say, and he heads across the hall but close enough that should I need to call him back, he’s ready at a moment’s notice.
“Tell me, where would you go if I let you leave?” Her brother has made it clear that she’s no longer welcome with the bratva.
“Home.”
She’s foolish to think she can return, and there are no consequences. “Your brother may be imprisoned, but the guards we interrogated won’t take kindly to your betrayal.”
“How did I betray them?” she asks.
“You’ve been staying as a guest at my residence. Don’t you think they won’t take kindly to your disloyalty?”
Does she not realize they’ll disavow her as Pakhan’s sister? The bratva isn’t a forgiving group of men.
“Coming here wasn’t my choice,” she says and points at my chest, poking me. “You forced me to come here. You’ve held me against my will.”
“That’s not what your brother believes. As he said, you’re not imprisoned.”
She drops her hands and folds them across her chest. “Doesn’t mean I’m not being held against my will.”
“If you want to go, then leave,” I say. We have her brother. It’s what we wanted and one of the reasons I required her to come with me.
“Fine,” she brushes past me and heads for my office.
I shove my hand against the door, refusing to let her open it. “You can leave, but the children remain under my roof until the DNA tests come back.”
“What? Antonio, no.”
I’m as sure as the sunrise. “They’re my children.”
Her eyes glisten. “Please, don’t do this,” she begs me to let her leave with the twins. “You can’t separate them from their mother.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I say. “You are welcome to stay, but the twins aren’t going anywhere until their DNA tests come back.”
“And then what?” she whispers. “What happens if you’re their father?” Her cheeks are rosy, her eyes glassy. She’s at the edge of her breaking point.
“I’ll want custody,” I say. “I can’t very well let them leave. The bratva will be after them. As soon as your brother realizes they’re my children, he’ll use them to hurt me.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” she whispers. “Mikhail wouldn’t hurt the kids. Everything he’s done has been because my son, Liam, was kidnapped by the Italian mafia.”
She can’t believe that everything that’s happened can be forgiven. “And now, the threats he makes?” I ask. “Do you believe they’re empty? That you can return home, and he will let you live with him at his compound?”
She’s silent, and her back is pressed up against the door. “I don’t believe he’ll let us return home.”