Page 108 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

It’s the version I gave Charity yesterday. I feel horrible for lying to her, but what’s the alternative? I can’t exactly tell her that Phoenix and I were fighting when I fell into the pool. That he saved me, carried me inside the house, undressed me, stripped naked himself, and wiped me down.

It sounds…

Well, it sounds like a fantasy. Every bit as ridiculous as the ones I’ve concocted in my head over the last year.

Except that my fantasies were never able to do justice to the near perfection of Phoenix’s body. Or the way his V-shaped abs drew my eyes relentlessly down towards…

“Seriously, Elyssa,” Charity says, snapping her fingers in front of my dazed face, “are you sure you’re okay?”

I try really hard to focus. “I’m okay,” I say with a firm nod. “I just… I don’t know. I’m worried about us.”

“Stop being a mom for five minutes,” she complains. “Just enjoy this.” She gestures to our luxurious room.

I take the chance to check her out. She hates when I baby or fuss over her. But this time is worse than ever before. Her face is still pretty bruised up. At least she can open her injured eye now and the swelling around the left side of her cheek has gone down. She’s starting to resemble herself again.

“As pretty as it is, I’m kinda sick of this room, though,” Charity declares. “I wanna go exploring.”

I tense immediately. “Maybe we should just stick to the room,” I say. “Every time I leave it, something weird happens.”

“Like the man in the window telling you to run?”

“Exactly like that.”

Before she can keep talking, there’s a knock on the door.

I bolt upright and Charity stares at me with raised eyebrows. “Expecting someone?” she asks suspiciously.

“No,” I say, cursing my own inability to stay cool. “I’m just jumpy today.”

“Understatement of the year,” Charity drawls, walking to the door.

I half expect to see Phoenix standing on the other side. But it’s only Anna. I definitely feel relief, but there’s a fair amount of disappointment, too.

“Good morning, ladies,” Anna says with a muted smile. “May I come in?”

“Of course,” Charity says, though “unenthusiastic” doesn’t even begin to cover it. “What’s up?”

“Master Phoenix wanted me to inform you that a car will be waiting outside for you in thirty minutes.”

Charity’s expression crumples up instantly. I feel my stomach drop. Does this have anything to do with what happened yesterday?

Charity snarls, “If he wants to kick us out, tell him to at least have the decency to come up here and do it himself.”

I hastily arrange a bunch of pillows around Theo, barricading him on the bed so he doesn’t fall, before running to Charity’s side.

“Charity!”

“No, I’m serious. He can’t just—”

“He’s not kicking you out,” Anna interrupts.

“I… what?” Charity falters.

Anna gives us both a patient smile. “He’s not kicking you out. He’s sending you both on a shopping spree.”

Charity and I exchange a dumbfounded look. “Um… can you say that again?” she asks.

Anna nods. “He realizes that you don’t have very many personal possessions with you, so he’s sending you out—with a security detail, of course—to get whatever you need.” When neither of us say anything, she adds, “It’s all on him, by the way.”

---