Page 164 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

I can feel tears starting to prick at the outer corners of my eyes. I blink them aside impatiently. No, I don’t deserve to cry. Once was a mistake. Twice…

Well, that makes me a murderer.

“Elyssa?”

I jump in my seat when he says my name. Phoenix is here, too. The man I sacrificed my soul for.If you even had a soul to begin with,says a nasty voice in my head.

Whose voice is that? It can’t be mine. My mother’s, maybe. Or my father’s?

No. I know whose it is. A voice I’ll never hear again.

Father Josiah.

It’s been so long since I allowed myself to think of him. To think of that night. But it’s all coming back now.

Not the moments leading up to it—but everything that came after I woke up with a splitting headache and a cast iron paperweight in my bloody hands.

One year later and nothing has changed.

I’m still wearing a dress that doesn’t belong to me.

My hands are still bloody.

And I’m still running from the darkness of a world that just won’t let me go.

“Elyssa!”

I turn to Phoenix, but I don’t really see him. Not truly. His features are blurry behind my guilt.

He takes one look at my face and swerves the car to a stop onto a lonely stretch along the side of the road. Two cars whizz past us as Phoenix turns to me.

“You need to breathe,” he says in an even voice.

He looks so strong and in control. It’s like nothing has fazed him. He was the one who took my hand and walked me out of that hotel as though everything was fine. Even now, he seemed completely unaffected by everything that has come to pass.

“Breathe,krasotka,” he says again.

This time, I hear him.

This time, I see him.

This time, I listen.

I suck in a huge, gasping breath, as big as I can. It relieves some of the pressure on my chest but not all of it.

“You’re shaking.”

I look down at my hands and I realize he’s right. My body feels like it’s a few shivers away from spasming out of control. He pulls open the center console between us and takes out a small bottle of water.

“Here,” he orders. “Drink.”

I don’t accept the water immediately but when he continues to glare at me, I take it and down a few sips. That helps, too.

“Feel better?”

“No.”

“Why?”

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