Page 222 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

“He’s sleeping,” I tell her. “Babies can sleep through anything. Yuri was like that, too.”

She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out. She’s still in shock, her body convulsing in sharp, involuntary waves.

“Take a deep breath,” I instruct her.

She tries—at least, it looks like it—but the panicked spasming only gets worse.

I pull her onto her feet and toss her into the seat that Anna had been sitting on. When I release her, my bloody fingerprints are imprinted against her fair skin.

She stares at me through her tears. “I… I came back…”

“You went to see your parents?” I interrupt.

Confusion ripples across her shell-shocked face. She doesn’t understand why I’m being so cold. So cruel.

Too bad I no longer care what she thinks. She may have saved my life just now but my days of trusting innocent faces are dead and gone now.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I… I…”

“Fucking speak!”

She gasps but the gasp is drowned out by the sound of rushing footsteps. My men burst onto the scene with their weapons drawn. The first shot must have alerted them.

Ilya stands in the threshold, staring between Elyssa and me.

“Fucking hell…” he murmurs when he sees Anna’s corpse. “Anna?”

“She was an Astra Tyrannis spy,” I inform my men.

There’s immediate exclamations of shock and outrage. But mostly disbelief. I can’t wait for them to catch up, though. I need to deal with Elyssa.

“Take the baby,” I tell Ilya. “Make sure he’s comfortable.”

“Where are you taking him?” Elyssa asks, finding her voice instantly.

“He’ll be fine,” I say harshly.

“Let me have him!”

“No,” I retort. “You and I need to talk. Ilya, now.”

Elyssa’s eyes go wide with terror but she knows better than to argue. Ilya and the men grab Theo and slip out without another word.

“Explain yourself,” I say when we’re alone again.

“I was leaving Las Vegas.”

“You were running?”

Her brows knot together. “I walked in here and saw you standing over Charity’s body.” She sobs over Charity’s name. “I… I thought you killed her. So I grabbed Theo and ran.”

“Why did you come back?”

“Because I found something in the duffel bag that Charity packed.”

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