Page 120 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

“And you’re not thinking enough,” she snaps. She settles back against the seat, eyes closed, arms crossed.

There’s a new strength in her voice. A pride in her posture. Some confidence in her that’s impossible to deny. I can’t deny that it’s powerfully attractive.

But I don’t want her clinging to false hope. Sure, chances are high that Theo is at the Garden, based on all the intel we’ve managed to gather from our interrogation of Raj and the tracking of my teams across the area.

But it’s only an educated guess. Not a certainty. A million other possibilities exist and none of them can be ruled out yet.

Even if, in Elyssa’s mind, there’s only one.

Experience tells me it’s never that simple.

“We’re here,” I announce a few minutes later.

She opens her eyes and peers out the windshield as we come to a stop.

It doesn’t seem like much. Another outcropping of red rock in the desert. But this is where Raj said the place was. And sure enough, when I look close through the binoculars, I see tire tracks in the dirt. They lead up to a subtle gate in the cliffside.

I park the car behind a huge boulder on the lip of a distant dune and get out. Elyssa rushes to my side. At first, she’s looking out at the Garden.

“There it is,” she says. “You know, I expected to feel something. To remember something.”

“It’ll come,” I assure her. “It’ll definitely come.”

I only say that because part of me thinks she’s on the verge of collapse and she’s just barely holding it together. If Theo is lost, I’m afraid she’ll crumble completely.

Her eyes flit down to the edge of the rocky edifice we’re standing on. “Wait a sec. We’re still at least a mile away. Why are we parked?”

“Because my car is recognizable, the guard at the gate has a big fucking gun, and I don’t need any more holes in my body,” I drawl. “We go in on foot.”

I hand her the binoculars so she can see for herself. She takes a look through, then turns to me with a furrowed brow. “Okay. So now what?”

I point down. “We climb.”

Her eyes bulge out of her head when she peers over the windswept edge of the rock structure. “Are you out of your mind?” she yelps. “It’s like five hundred feet down!”

“Better get started then,” I say grimly. “You wanted to come on this little adventure? Well, little lamb, the adventure has begun.”

* * *

We touch down twenty minutes later. I flex my hands and forearms. The scar in my bicep where Anna shot me is pinging with pain, but I ignore it. I’ll suffer when I’m dead.

Elyssa is sweaty, trembling, and pale. “You good?” I ask her.

She swallows, stiffens her lip, and nods. “Fine. Stop asking. Let’s go.”

I turn, stifling a smile. I like her like this. Fiery. Out of her shell. A fucking warrior princess, unafraid of battle.

I take her hand in mine and we start the long trek towards the gate. Neither of us says a word for the whole walk. The pressure of our intertwined fingers is all the reassurance we need.

When we reach the final dune separating us from the guard’s eyeline, I pause. “You ready?”

“I told you to stop asking me that,” she snaps. Then she softens into a soft smile. “But yeah. I’m ready.”

I nod. Then I seize her by the upper arm and drag her forward like an unruly child around the edge of the dune.

As soon as the guard sees us, he leaps off his seat. He aims the rifle right at us.

“Who the hell are you?” he yells. “Stop right there! Don’t come any closer.”

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