Page 166 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

I keep shaking my head. “I have to go back,” I repeat stupidly.

“He’s too well-guarded, and I’m the only one who managed to get in here. If we linger any longer, we’ll be caught.”

“I have to go back for them. Theo. Yuri.”

“Yuri?” Matvei’s brows knit together. He’s looking at me like I’ve lost it now.

I don’t have time to explain, though. I try to disentangle myself from Matvei, but he grabs me roughly and hoists me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I can’t do anything except beat my hands against his back as he resumes his sprint out of this hellacious nightclub.

“Matvei, please,” I sob. He ignores me.

When we burst out of a rear entrance into the light of day, I have to shut my eyes tight. The sun is so bright it hurts.

But not so bright that I don’t notice the five dead Yakuza bodies lying in the alleyway, piled up at the feet of a handful of Bratva soldiers.

“Matvei?” one of the soldiers asks.

“Come on,” Matvei answers. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What about the boss?”

“That’s a rescue mission for another day,” Matvei grimaces. “Right now, we’ve got to get out of here. We have minutes before we’re discovered.”

“Put me down,” I say softly.

He does—right into the back of an unmarked van. The soldiers pile in after me hurriedly. Then we’re whizzing away from Wild Night Blossom.

And all I can do is look out at that godforsaken building with a sinking feeling in my chest.

“Matvei, we have to go back.”

He sighs. “I would if I could, Elyssa,” he says. “But Phoenix tied my hands—literally and figuratively—when he went off in search of you.”

“Literally?”

“It’s a long story.”

“You don’t understand,” I protest, deciding that I don’t need the whole story. “It’s not just Phoenix we have to save…”

“They’re not going to hurt your son. They still need him.”

“Yuri’s alive,” I blurt out.

The whole van seems to go quiet. Glances are exchanged. The atmosphere prickles with disbelief.

“Who told you that?” Matvei asks at last.

“No one. I saw him with my own eyes,” I reveal. “I know you think I might be wrong, but I’m not, Matvei. Ozol has had him this whole time. He makes him wear chains and a collar. It’s horrific. We have to do something.”

“That motherfucker,” Matvei says. I’m relieved to see that he believes me. “That fucking sadistic motherfucker.”

“So you see?” I say desperately. “You see why we need to go back?”

Matvei reaches out and puts his hand over mine. “I understand, Elyssa. But we can’t go back. Not now.”

“But—”

“It’s too risky. And they have the upper hand. We need a plan of action. We need to be cautious.”

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