Page 144 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

The two of them head out of the kitchen. On his way out, Phoenix turns to me. He doesn’t say anything but his eyes linger on my face for a few seconds. Searching for something. God only knows what it is, though.

Then he disappears around the corner. When they’re gone, I head back to the living room.

Anna is sitting on the carpet with Theo in front of her. “Where’s Charity?” I ask, looking around.

“She said she needed to use the bathroom,” Anna says without taking her eyes off Theo. “She’s been gone for a while, poor thing.”

I sit down next to Anna and pat Theo but my focus is split. I’m worried about Charity and what she’s up to. I just barely managed to convince Phoenix to allow her freedom of the house. If she abuses that right again, I know no amount of pleading on my part will move him the second time around. She’ll be a prisoner here for as long as he keeps us.

“You okay, dear?” Anna asks, eyeing me warily.

“Oh, sure, yeah. I’m just worried.”

“About Master Phoenix?”

I blush.Am I really that transparent?“About Charity,” I lie smoothly.

“Probably just something she ate,” Anna says with an oblivious smile.

“Right,” I say. “I’m sure that’s it.”

Anna looks around and sighs. “Where could it be…?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing important, dear. Just misplaced my phone again. I’m getting old. I’m half-scared I’ll be put out to pasture soon.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve got tons of good years left.”

She smiles warmly. “I hope so.”

I want to be able to distract Anna but I’m overly distracted myself. Theo is content to absorb fifteen minutes of my time, though. Anna and I play with him, chuckling as he flips around again and again.

I’m just about to go look for Charity when she appears as if by magic at the threshold.

“Elyssa,” she says, “can I talk to you for a second?”

I jump to my feet and follow her out of the living room. “Where were you all this time?” I hiss when we reach the hallway.

“Calm down. No one caught me.”

I close my eyes with frustration. “What did you do?”

Charity looks around conspiratorially. “I was just doing a little eavesdropping outside Phoenix’s office. He’s in there with the hot second-in-command.”

“I beg and plead Phoenix to convince him to let you out and this is how you—”

Charity grabs my arm, cutting off what I was about to say. “Lys, things aren’t looking so good.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“From what I heard, the organization is closing in. Why else would they have abducted this person from the psychiatric ward? He’s obviously close to Phoenix.”

“Father-in-law,” I mutter.

“What?!”

“Yeah,” I say. “He was married. His wife died.”

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