Page 227 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

When he’s gone, I feel Father Josiah’s gaze settle on me once more. “Come, Elyssa. We don’t want you standing in the doorway the whole night. As I said, there is much to do.”

When I still don’t move, he takes my hand and pulls me inside the house. His eyes are sparkling under the bright lights of his home. Everything is so grand and beautiful here.

It’s a far cry from the house I’ve lived in all my life.

I happen to know that Father Josiah has a full staff. Of course he would, given the sheer size of this place. But tonight, the place looks empty.

“Where are your maids?” I ask, my voice shaky and hesitant.

“Off for the night. It’s just you and I, my dove.”

I’ve always thought his smile was comforting. He has that easy, reassuring nature about him that makes trusting him easy. But tonight, his smile feels different.

Or maybe nothing is different and I’m just reading too much into everything.

“Come,” he says again, offering me his hand.

I stare at it, feeling extremely uncomfortable in the dress. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Left with no choice, I slip my hand into his and he leads me up the stairs. It takes forty steps to reach the top. I count every single one of them.

When we arrive at the landing, he takes a left and leads me down a candlelit corridor. “Where are you taking me?” I squeak.

He ignores me this time. Then he pushes open a large white door and gestures for me to go inside.

I move in slowly, realizing that we’re in a large bedroom that overlooks part of the commune and part of the desert outside the Sanctuary’s boundaries.

“Father Josiah?” I say, turning around to face him.

CLICK.He snaps the door shut and turns the lock.

“Oh, my frightened little dove,” he says, taking a slow, deliberate step towards me. “I am to be your husband. I want you to call me Josiah.”

I can’t bring myself to speak. That feeling of wrongness has only grown.

He smiles as he closes the final distance between us. “You are a good woman, Elyssa,” he murmurs, taking my hand and bringing it to his lips. “It’s exactly why I chose you. Why you were chosen for me, rather. Well, that and your beauty of course. You really are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Beauty is a blessing from the powers that be.”

I give him a shaky smile when he meets my eyes. “Thank you.”

His words are honeyed, dripping with flattery. But they fall flat and grating against my ears. My skin tingles.

We shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be here.

“Let me remove that veil so I can gaze at your beauty.”

He undoes the pins and pulls back the veil, leaving it half in and half out. Without the partition between us, I feel exposed.

“Those eyes,” Josiah sighs as he drinks me. “What beautiful, innocent eyes. They can drive a man insane. I’m sure they have…”

He reaches to the bedside table and picks up a heavy goblet. “Drink this,” he orders.

“What is—”

“Drink it.”

I tense. Something bad is hurtling towards me like a shooting star. I can sense it, even if I don’t know yet what it is.

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