Page 50 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

Charity chooses that moment to step forward into a beam of moonlight, her eyes widening slightly as she takes in Matvei.

“Are you the brainless henchman?” she drawls.

Before he can answer, Elyssa steps up next to her with the baby in her arms. It seems he’s fallen asleep. A single lock of dark hair drapes over his eyes. As I watch, my fingers itch with the urge to smooth it away.

Matvei just turns to me slowly. “Jesus, brother. How long of a story is it?”

“I’ll explain later.”

“I’ll give you the short version,” Charity offers, giving me a conspiratorial wink and smile. “I’m Charity, the hooker that this fucker was trying to abduct.”

She gives Murray a kick to illustrate her point.

“And this is Elyssa,” she adds, jerking her thumb at the blonde, “the one-night stand that your friend here ghosted a year ago. But at least he was kind enough to leave her with a little souvenir of their night together. His name is Theo.”

Matvei has a stellar poker face. He gives nothing away. Instead, he turns to me with a deadpan expression. “Seems like she hit the key points pretty efficiently there, pal.”

“Don’t fucking start with me,” I snap.

“Is it all true?”

I’m looking at Elyssa, trying to gauge her reaction. She’s blushing fiercely and looking down at her son. “Apparently,” I mumble. “Now, help me pick up this son of a bitch and let’s get out of here.”

Matvei and I grab the slumped Murray by the wrists and ankles and haul him over to the trunk. The women slip into the back seat.

Once Murray’s settled, Matvei shuts the trunk and turns to me. “Is this for real?” he asks. “Like, for real for real?”

I can see Charity’s silhouette twisting around to watch us through the rear window.

“Now’s not the time to discuss this. I need to get Murray to a secure location so that we can question him.”

“Really? That’s what you’re focused on right now?”

“That’s theonlything I’m focused on right now,” I retort stubbornly.

Then I head to the passenger side door, effectively ending the conversation. Matvei follows behind, watching me.

“Where to?”

“The mansion,” I answer at once.

The drive there is quiet, punctured only by the sporadic sleeping murmurs of the baby in Elyssa’s arms. He wakes up just as Matvei steers us up the private driveway.

“Jesus, this place is huge!” Charity gasps, doing nothing to mask her amazement as she takes in the three-story estate.

Elyssa’s expression is more difficult to read. She looks more overwhelmed than blown away. And kind of nervous.

When the car comes to a stop in front of the ivy-laced brick façade, Charity pops out at once. I walk around to Elyssa’s side to open the door for her.

She struggles to get out without disrupting the baby, but I resist the urge to offer her a hand. Touching her seems like it might be a little too much at the moment. She seems to feel the same way.

We all snake through the front entrance. Charity steps inside and does a double take as she takes in the interior.

“This place is like something out of a fairy tale.Beauty and the BeastmeetsScarface.”

Matvei ogles Charity before turning to me. “I’ll have Murray taken to the basement cell,” he says softly. “Then I’ll meet you in the office.” He takes off before I can say otherwise.

The bastard thinks he’s slick, leaving me alone here to confront this situation.

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