Page 157 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

The weight of all the unspoken horrors he’s spent five years living is almost enough to drown me.

“Yuri, I won’t hurt you,” I whisper. “Neither will your father. We just want to help.”

He shakes his head. “Only Master Viktor can help me.”

“Your father loves you so much, Yuri. He’s been destroyed since you disappeared. The only reason he didn’t search for you is because he thought you were dead.”

I see a flame of hope in the boy’s eyes, but it extinguishes almost immediately.

“No. My father didn’t want me,” he intones like something that’s been drilled into his head again and again.

He tries to shrug away from me, but I grab his shirt again.

“Yuri, please, I need you to believe me.”

“What he needs is for you to let him go.”

I turn to the woman who spoke. She’s lying in the cell right next to me. She looks about my age, with large blue eyes and a wealth of red hair blurring in a halo around her head. She’s beautiful, but the beauty is hidden by a layer of dirt and grime that clings to her skin.

“It ain’t gonna do him no good, you giving him false hope. Lying to the poor boy.”

“I’m not lying!”

“Who the fuck cares?” she drawls. “Even if it’s true, you’ll be sold long before his daddy knows a thing. So you could at least leave the poor runt alone and let the rest of us have a drink of water.”

I shudder at her callousness and turn back to the boy. “Yuri…”

“Please let me go,” he begs, his voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll be punished if I don’t do my duty.”

As a tear slides down my cheek, my hands loosen. He backs away slowly at first, then turns and starts his shuffle down the line of cells, offering each woman a sip of water, same as he did for me. I can’t take my eyes off him.

“Is it true?” the redheaded woman asks, sidling a little closer to the bars of my cell.

“What?”

“That his father is some big shot?”

“Yes.”

“Does he know the boy is here?”

“No.”

“Does he know you’re here?”

I meet her gaze for the first time. I know instantly why she’s asking me such leading questions. She wants to know if rescue is imminent. She wants to know if she should hope.

“No,” I say. “He doesn’t.”

Her face crumples. “Then how’s he supposed to find you, eh? You’re just wasting everyone’s time. Stupid bitch.”

I turn my back on her and wrap my arms around my body. It feels so damn cold all of a sudden. And I feel so tired. If I just close my eyes, maybe I could sleep forever…

Cut that shit right the fuck out. You can’t give up now.

“Giving up seems like the best option right now,” I whisper. “The only one, really.”

Yuri is alive. Do you know what that means?

---