Page 205 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

There are spies in your house, Phoenix!Vitya himself roared those words in my face.

I clench my jaw and wait. Eiko will talk. I know it. Men like him can’t help themselves.

“Do you know when Astra Tyrannis first started?” Eiko asks.

It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes in the pompous fucker’s face. “Is there a point you’re trying to make?” I growl.

“1901 is the answer. Born in Amsterdam, it flourished on the continent until it had outgrown its home. And then it came here.”

The Japanese don certainly has a flair for the dramatic. Which is probably why he didn’t just ambush us at the warehouse. Too straightforward. No, a guy like Eiko lives for the art of the chase. For cat-and-mouse games, for overdrawn soliloquies.

Most of all, he lives for a captive audience. He’s got one now and he isn’t keen on letting it go just yet.

“I’m sorry, is this supposed to be an ambush or a history lecture?”

Eiko’s eyes narrow further. “There’s nothing wrong with knowing history. It keeps you from repeating it.”

“Fucking spare me,” I snap. “I’d rather swallow the bullet than the sermon.”

“My point is that Astra Tyrannis plays the long game. They stay in power because they can see into the future. They can plan twenty steps ahead because they know their enemies’ next ten steps.”

I’m close to bursting now. Not just because of the fucker in front of me but because of the truth he’s implying.

I can’t avoid it any longer. I give him the answer he’s giddy about.

“They planted a spy.”

He looks mildly irritated that I cut to the chase but he recovers quickly. “Ah, so youdosuspect?”

“I have for a while now,” I say. “And since it seems as though I won’t leave here alive, you might as well tell me who the spy is. For closure. A favor from one don to another.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he chuckles. When he laughs like that, he seems like a nasty little boy, lighting ants on fire with a magnifying glass. Sick fucking pup. “Tell you what: I’ll give you three guesses.”

“I don’t have time for this shit,” I snarl.

He laughs again, clearly enjoying himself. “Oh, don’t be such a spoilsport. You don’t have time for anything anymore, Mr. Kovalyov. I’ll give you a clue. The spy in question is unassuming as a bird, innocent as a fawn—and yet, underneath all that naivete, there’s a siren singing her death song.”

I shake my head. Refusing to believe it, even when it’s staring me right in the face.

“You invited her into your home,” he whispers hoarsely. “And she’s betrayed you over and over again.”

I can feel Matvei staring at me but I ignore him. I’m trying to reconcile what I feel with the truth that’s now staring me in the face.

Elyssa.This whole time, it was her. Of course it was her—and I knew it. The signs were all there, plain as day.

She was there that day at Wild Night Blossom when she never should’ve been anywhere near that place. She intercepted the meeting with Ozol. She created the distraction so that he could flee.

Then, a year later, she enters my life again… with a child she claims is mine.

Maybe he really is mine. But she used him as a bargaining chip. A way to gain access to my life.

To my home.

To my fucking head.

“Oh, dear! Don’t tell me you went and caught feelings for the spy?” Eiko asks with condescension. “How very unfortunate.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I spit.

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