Page 231 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

I listen. I obey.

“Look at me.”

I do. His face is terrifying. He looks gaunt and sinister. A wild animal who’s just been set free. My wildest fantasy disguised as my worst nightmare.

“Get out,” he tells me in a slow, creeping drawl. “You are never to return to this house again.”

“Phoenix…”

“You heard me,” he says coldly. “Get out now. Stay any longer and I’ll do what I should have done a long time ago. I’ll kill you.”

“Theo could still be yours,” I stammer desperately.

“I have only one son,” he snaps, making me jerk back. “And he died five years ago, at the hands of this mad bitch. So I’m done trusting anyone. It’s not a luxury I can afford any longer. And with you, there are too many lies. Too many unanswered questions.”

I want to go to him. I want to beg for his mercy, his forgiveness, his understanding.

But I can see it in his eyes: Nothing will move him. He’s lost too much and fallen too far to see past his pain.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him, hoping the words will reach him even while knowing that they won’t.

He turns from me. I feel fresh tears surface. I blink them back and turn to the door. I won’t break down. Not here.

I move quickly through the house, searching for my son. I find him two doors down with a pair of maids. I rush forward and grab him from the pretty blonde who’s rocking him in her arms without saying so much as a word. Theo cries in protest but I ignore both him and the maids.

I strap him back into the baby carrier and make my way out of the house as fast as I can. The car is parked in the same position I left it in the driveway. The moment I have Theo secured in the back seat, I get in and start to drive.

For a second, I think I spot a tall silhouette in one of the windows. But before I can focus my gaze, it’s gone.

Wishful thinking—that’s all it is.

I drive for twenty minutes before Theo starts bawling in his carrier and I’m forced to pull over. I get in the back and pull him out of the carrier.

As I try to soothe him, I realize that I don’t have anything to comfort him with. And that’s when it hits me: I left the duffel bag at the mansion.

All my earthly possessions were in that thing. Including the money I was going to use to get out of Las Vegas.

“No,” I whisper. “No…”

And as Theo cries, I join in.

My breasts ran dry a long time ago, so I have nothing to offer him. I look down at my sweet baby boy, realizing that we have no one in the world to turn to. The one person we could count on is dead.

“Charity,” I whisper. “I wish you were with us now. I have no one else.”

I kiss Theo’s head, leaving my tears on his soft skin. “I’m sorry,” I whimper. “I’m sorry. You deserve better, my little angel…”

Then, as if it is giving up along with us, the car shudders and grinds to a halt. The engine whines like a dying creature. I don’t even have to look to know that it’s never going to start up again.

I’m in a daze as I step out of the car. My feet carry me down the sidewalk. We leave the vehicle behind, keys still in the ignition. I hold Theo close to my chest and walk, looking at everything and seeing nothing.

Bright lights. People—partiers and hookers, gamblers and addicts, tourists and nobodies. Not a single one of them gives me so much as a second glance.

I’m not in control of my body. It’s piloting me somewhere, pulled along by fate or luck or something worse. So I shouldn’t be surprised when I look up and find myself staring at a sickeningly familiar neon sign.

Wild Night Blossom.The place where it all began.

The red and black neon glows and hums against the Las Vegas night sky. It looks too bright to be real. Too garish. Too otherworldly.

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