Page 145 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

“Fuck,” Charity says, her brows knitting together. “Oh my God!”

“What?”

“Of course. It makes so much sense now. Clearly, his wife was killed by Astra Tyrannis. That’s what’s driving all this.”

“All what?”

“This vendetta! This war we’re trying like hell to stay out of!”

“Charity,” I say, trying to get her to refocus, “what did you hear?”

“Enough to tell me that being close to Phoenix is getting more and more dangerous by the second,” she says. “Which means we need a backup plan.”

The more she talks, the less I like the sound of anything she’s saying. “Charity—”

“And the backup plan is get out sooner rather than later.”

“Do you really think—"

She ignores me and keeps rattling on. “Listen, I think we should think long-term. We could maybe collect info on the Bratva operations before we leave. That way, we can sell the information if we need to.”

“Sell his information?” I yelp. “Are you crazy?”

“Yeah! To the cops. Or the feds. They’d pay for it.”

“Charity, that’s…”

“We need to think about ourselves here, Elyssa.”

“I get that. But we don’t have to screw over Phoenix in the process.”

She raises her eyebrows and for the first time, she stops her frantic planning to really look at me. “You’re worried abouthim?”

“He took us in even though he didn’t have to.”

“Because I forced his hand!” she points out. “We don’t know what his motives are. Men like him always have a motive, Elyssa.”

“I think his motive was trying to help us.”

“I thought you didn’t have feelings for him,” she says, flipping it back around on me.

“I don’t!”

“You could have fooled me.”

“He’s still Theo’s father,” I tell her, falling back on another truth.

“He’s shown no interest in being Theo’s father,” Charity retorts bluntly. I wince at the cold truth. She grabs my hand. “I’m sorry. I know I’m pushing right now. I know I’m crossing the line. But sometimes, it takes a bitch to survive.”

“I’m not one,” I say shakily.

“I know,” Charity replies with a nod. “But you don’t have to be. I’ll be the bitch for both of us. But we just need to stick together, okay?”

I look down, unable to commit, unable to justify betraying Phoenix like this.

Taking a deep breath, Charity pulls out a phone that looks slightly familiar.

“Where’d you get that?” I ask.

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