Page 81 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

“And what number am I?”

“Two, believe it or not.”

“I can live with that. So long as Cillian isn’t ahead of me. That bastard brother of mine is always elbowing his way to the front.”

“And then you elbow your way right back past him.” I smile. “How are you, old man?”

“Cut the small talk shit, Phoenix,” Kian says brusquely. “You called for a fucking reason.”

Sighing, I walk around behind my desk and sit down. This is a sit-down kind of talk, anyway. “There’s a new development…”

“You have a new lead?”

“No, same leads,” I reply. “This isn’t about Astra Tyrannis.”

“Since when?”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“Everything for you in the last five years has been about those fucking scoundrels.”

Jesus.I’m getting it from all sides lately.“Yeah, well, trust me: if I had my way, I wouldn’t be dealing with this shit.”

“Which shit is that?”

I bite the bullet and just come out and say it. “A child,” I say solemnly. “A baby boy named Theo.”

There’s silence on the other line. I know Kian is struggling to connect the meager dots I’ve left him. I’m not quite sure how to tell him the whole story. Hell, I’m not sure how to even admit the whole story to myself. Perhaps that’s why my explanation’s coming out stilted and unclear.

“A boy named Theo?” Kian repeats. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

I sigh. “He’s my son. Apparently.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. You got a girl pregnant.”

“That’s usually how it works,” I drawl. “Birds and the bees and all that.”

“Spare me the sarcasm, kid. Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

Start from the beginning.What a concept.If only I fucking could.

I rub the bridge of my nose and close my eyes. “Remember that night a year ago? The botched meeting with Ozol?”

“Of course.”

“I told you what happened.”

There’s a second of hesitation. “Fucking hell… the girl in the wedding dress?”

“That’s the one.”

“You found her?”

“Sort of. I stumbled across her,” I explain. “While I was tailing Murray.”

“The Tyrannis lead? The dirty cop?”

“Yeah. Detective.”

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