Page 158 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

“It means he’s been used and abused for the last four years. It means he’s been made the pet of an evil, sadistic sex trafficker who’s waiting until the moment he can use him in revenge.”

It means Phoenix hasn’t lost his son. He hasn’t lost either one of his sons yet. And you’re the only one who knows that. You have to do something. You have to keep fighting.

“I can’t keep fighting. I don’t have the strength.”

Yes, you do. Remember how all this started? Josiah touched you and you fought back. You were brave enough even back then, and look how far you’ve come! You’re brave enough now. You’re more than brave enough.

“I don’t know, Char. I just don’t know.”

Do it for your son. For both of them.

Slowly, I sit up and struggle to my feet.

My body feels strange, but at least I can feel all my limbs again. The drugs Josiah gave me earlier have mostly worn off. I test one leg at a time, flexing my arms, bending side to side to make sure I can move.

“You getting ready to run a marathon or something?” the redhead in the cell next to me asks sarcastically.

I ignore her and head to the front of my cell. When I lean out a little, I can still see Yuri walking down the row of cells, supplying the caged women with water.

Suddenly, a door clangs open. I hear steps thumping on the staircase. A moment later, a pair of wingtip shoes appear on the landing. Followed by a man.

I recognize his face immediately. I saw it a year ago in this very building, and I’ve seen it in a picture: one skewered to the dead center of the wall in Phoenix’s office.

Viktor Ozol.

The other women fall silent. Everyone shrinks into the farthest reaches of their cell, like every inch between themselves and Viktor is vital.

But I stay where I am.

I know instinctively he’s come here for me.

He’s got two hulking guards at his back. “Elyssa,” he says, giving me a smile that’s almost charming. “You are even more alluring than I recall. He certainly has good taste.”

“You’re pure evil. Do you know that?”

He shrugs. “It’s all about perception.”

“You’ve enslaved a child,” I say. “A child!”

Ozol’s eyes flicker over to Yuri, who keeps glancing over at us every few seconds. “He should be thanking me. He’s lived a much better life than some other children who’ve crossed my path.”

“What is wrong with you?” I hiss. “Where is your heart? Your humanity?”

“I abandoned my sense of morality a long time ago,” he shrugs. “It got me nowhere and only made me weak. Without the constraints of conscience, you can do anything. And I can indeed do anything.”

“Phoenix will get you,” I say confidently. “Even if everyone else fails, he won’t.”

Ozol throws back his head and laughs. “It’ll interest you to know that Phoenix is upstairs right now, in a cell much like yours.”

That takes the wind right out of my sails. I shouldn’t give him the satisfaction, but I can’t help stammering, “W… what?”

The man’s sky blue eyes gleam with satisfaction. He’s enjoying himself. “May I come in?” he asks. “Although, I don’t know why I bother asking. I own this place inside and out. I go wherever I like.” He hums softly to himself as he pulls out a little key and sticks it in the lock of my cell.

I back away immediately as he opens the door and steps into the cell with me. I slap him across the face as hard as I can the second he turns to face me. My hand burns with the contact.

He smiles again. That same sickly, creeping smile that makes my skin crawl.

Then he hits me across the face so hard my world explodes.

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