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“I just turned twenty-six,” she said, rolling her eyes.

I calculated her age and our children’s. They were a year and a half old.

“What did you name them?” I asked as the crushing sorrow filled me when I thought of their tiny faces.

“Alexei and Tatiana,” she murmured.

I released her wrist to stare at her.

Alexei and Tatiana.

“I wanted them to have something of their father,” she said, looking down the busy street. “I didn’t think that I would see you again.”

“Surname?”

“Harlestone,” she replied.

Never, it should have been Alexei and Tatiana Abrosimov.

Maksim came out with the key and confirmed the room number.

“We need to talk,” I said before pulling her into the hotel.

The shock was wearing off, and my mind jumped into action. Mariya was the mother of my babies, and I would do whatever it took to negotiate terms with her. She was strong, independent, and intelligent, but I wasn’t beyond playing dirty to get her to concede to my wishes.

This was no business deal. This was my flesh and blood. My children. Morals were out the fucking window.

Chapter 5

Mariya

The bloody Russian didn’t release my wrist, and his two goons followed us into the lift. The initial shock of seeing him again threw me off, and the thought of him trying to take my children from me terrified me. I tried to pull away from him again, but he leaned down.

“If you don’t behave, I can take off my belt,” he whispered.

I stopped struggling and looked at his men, but they stood facing the door. The hot memories flooded back to me as if it were yesterday. It had been two years and three months since I last had sex—the story of my life.

The doors pinged and slid open. The men stepped out but waited for us to exit before they followed us down the hall.

“I will send you instructions,” the Russian said as he opened a set of double doors.

He moved me into the room, but I saw the two men standing in front of the door, guarding it.

“Are you a criminal?” I blurted out.

“No. Why would you think that?” he asked with his accent deepening, sounding offended.

While he had been looking at our children, I had been looking at him. He hadn't changed at all. His hairstyle, suit and facial features. He released my wrist, and I rubbed the flesh. The feel of his fingers lingered around the flesh, reminding me of thehandcuffs. He waved his hand forward for me to step into the room.

“Please take a seat,” he said when we reached the living room.

He certainly loved his spacious hotel accommodation. I sat on the single armchair and fixed the split on my dress. The Russian was busy on his phone and didn’t notice, but I realised it was a little late in the day to attempt modesty. I didn’t have any concerns about Orla. She would take the children home. She had been with me from the beginning and was the only person I trusted with the children.

“My name is Rurik Abrosimov. I have a global steel manufacturing company, and I can confirm that I am not a criminal. The company is run by me and my younger brother. The men outside usually travel with me. I travel to various countries, and security can be essential at times. I am thirty-eight years old, and I have no children,” he said, shooting out facts as he paced before he paused mid-step. “Who is the woman the children went with?”

For the first time, I looked at him as Alexei and Tatiana’s father because he turned pale at the thought of some woman absconding with the twins. I winced, thinking about my father. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I would allow my family anywhere near my children.

“That was Orla. She is their nanny and has been with us ever since I gave birth to them,” I said softly, watching as the relief cleared the frown away, and he sat down with a sigh.