Page 165 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

“Take her away,” Ozol orders. “And lock the Russian in again. Oh, and wipe that sour look off your face, Josiah. All is well. The fun has just begun.”

40

Elyssa

I’m crying as I’m carried through the dark halls of Wild Night Blossom. But I don’t fight. I just close my eyes and sag limply in the arms of the pair of guards hauling me out of here.

But I endured. I was silent even when it hurt more than anything not to be able to tell Phoenix I loved him. That I’ll always love him.

I stayed silent for Theo. For Yuri.

And for them, I’ll endure anything. I’ll endure everything.

My eyes are still closed when we come to an unexpected stop. “Where did you come from?” the guard holding me asks to someone in the shadows I can’t see.

“Just heading up to speak to the boss.”

“Well, get out of my way.”

“No can do.”

I hear a dull grunt. A sick squelch. And then I feel myself falling.

It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. I keep my eyes closed even when I hit the ground. There’s another grunt, a sound that sounds like a punch, something I could swear is a muffled gunshot. A thick droplet of something wet hits me in the cheek.

I keep my eyes closed. I don’t want to see anyone or anything ever again. I just want to sleep forever.

“Elyssa.”

I frown. I know that voice.

“Elyssa, get up. I’ve got to get you out of here fast.”

My eyes fly open, but it takes me three full seconds to register the face I’m staring at. He has a name, right on the tip of my tongue…

“Matvei?”

“We don’t have much time. I can hear more guards coming.”

I want to pick myself up, but my legs are weak. Everything is weak.

Sighing, Matvei wraps something around me—a jacket, I think—then scoops me up in his arms like a doll. Then he starts to run. Warm air rushes past my face as we hurry through darkened spaces that I can only half-see through my tear-filled eyes. Is it really Matvei, or is this just a dream?

Get a hold of yourself, woman. You’re being rescued!

I try and blink my tears away as I look up at his solemn face. “Wait!”

“Shh!” he hisses at me.

“Let me down.”

He sighs, stops, and sets me down on my feet. But instead of joining him in the direction we were headed, I turn back the way we came.

He snags my wrist out of the air and reels me back in towards him. “Elyssa, it’s this way.”

“No,” I say, shaking my head furiously. “I have to go back.”

“We can’t save Phoenix, Elyssa,” he says urgently. “Not today. But I can get you out of here.”

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