Page 115

My stomach sinks.
I don’t want it to be true.
Forcing my eyes away from him, I look up at Dario.
Could it be that…?
My brother shakes his head, only holding on to me even tighter.
I swallow hard, releasing a breath as I focus on calming my racing heart, listening as Isaak continues.
“In a mix up of identities, Serena was murdered under the direct order of Alyona, rather than my daughter’s mother, like Alyona had hoped for.” I watch Isaak’s chest rise and fall, the way that he says the words so slowly and carefully. “Your mother is the reason why Chiara’s mother was murdered, my sons.”
Nikolai and Mikhail freeze, their bodies growing tense in a way I haven’t ever seen before.
For a moment, neither one of them moves, and I can practically hear the sound of their thoughts racing, trying to understand what their father has just revealed.
The silence surrounding us all feels suffocating.
Nikolai’s brows furrow, his eyes narrowing as he processes the information.
His mother…my mother…
My throat feels tight as I hold onto my brother even tighter, desperately trying to seek comfort in him.
“Has our sister passed?”
Mikhail asks, his voice hoarse with something I can’t quite place, a tinge of fear, perhaps.
Isaak shakes his head slowly, his expression darkening.
“No. My daughter lives.” His voice dips even lower as he continues, his eyes flickering towards Papa for just a moment before they settle back on Nikolai and Mikhail. “But just barely. She has no idea who she is. She has no idea about any of us.”
His words echo around in my head, but I can’t seem to make much sense of them.
Their mother is responsible for my mother’s death.
I can’t even wrap my head around it.
They have a little sister with Italian blood running through her veins.
I stare at Isaak, then back to the twins, watching their reactions to all of this with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Their gazes shift back to mine, so intense and heavy, and the realisation of this all settles deep in my stomach.
They’re looking at me differently now, and I'm not sure if I can bear it.
Though they don’t speak, their eyes…
They’re searching mine, trying to understand how this secret, this hidden part of their lives, is now tangled up in mine.
My body trembles, and the room seems to grow smaller with every passing second. The air grows thick with all these secrets now being revealed.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t look away from them.
Isaak’s voice cuts through the haze.