Page 176 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

I remember what Matvei told me only moments ago, about the picture of the two of us walking towards the elevators in the hotel.

My face is hidden. Hers is not.

“Maybe you should have thought of that before coming here with me.”

Her face falls a moment, and she looks at the baby. “I wasn’t just thinking of myself, you know,” she says. “I was thinking of Elyssa. And mostly… of Theo.”

I’m trying not to look at the child, but it’s hard. He’s a beautiful baby. Just like his mother. He turns towards me and breaks out into a cry.

“Here,” Charity says, pushing him into my arms. “I think you should be the one to feed him. You are his father, after all.”

“I—”

“Anna’s in the kitchen,” she says, throwing my own words back in my face. “She can help you make a bottle for him.”

Then, before I can protest, she turns on her heel and heads toward the staircase. Just like that, she’s gone.

I stare down at the baby. He’s looking at me with a slight frown, as though he’s trying to place me. I see a flash of Yuri for a moment. It’s gone as quick as it came but the nauseating feeling it brought with it, like getting punched in the gut, lingers.

His weight fits snugly in my arm. It all feels so natural. So familiar. Even his smell pulls me back years into the past.

I swallow past the bitter knot in my throat and stride towards the kitchen.

When I step through the threshold, though, Anna’s not there like I expect her to be. Then I remember that I don’t need any help. I’ve done this before.

I’ve changed diapers, made bottles. I may have lost my son but I never stopped being a father. It’s not the kind of thing a man could stop even if he tried.

And believe me—I’ve fucking tried.

Balancing Theo with one hand, I make him a bottle of milk. I sway from side to side, the same way I used to handle Yuri.

He looks confused for a moment and then he starts giggling. By the time I give him his milk, his mood has considerably improved.

We go to sit by the window. Theo is drinking his milk, and I’m trying furiously not to let the old loss invade this moment when Anna walks in.

“Master Phoenix?” She steps close and observes the two of us together. “Well, isn’t this a beautiful sight!”

“He was hungry,” I say gruffly.

“You always were a natural,” she remarks.

I expect her to move away but she keeps standing there, staring. After the first few minutes, I start to get uncomfortable. “Was there something else, Anna?”

“Oh, no, nothing,” she says, shaking her head. “I just… It’s been a long time since I saw you this… content.”

Something flickers across her wizened features. Then she turns and goes about her business in the kitchen.

I try not to let her words strike me. But it’s too late.

They’ve already made their mark.

36

Elyssa

“Why did you go, Elyssa?” Charity says, blocking my path to the door. “Why?”

“It’s… it’s complicated, Charity.”

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