Page 28 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

I don’t care who sees them now. I couldn’t stop if I tried.

The stroller detaches into a car seat that Leona buckles in the middle of the back seat between us. Somehow, my son has managed to sleep through all the commotion. How lucky he is to be so young and oblivious. I reach out and touch his apple cheek.

“Here,” Leona says, offering me a tissue.

“Thanks.”

She nods and stares out the window while I cry.

The driver is separated from us by a glass partition, but I can see his surly silhouette. There’s another man in the passenger seat.

Neither one is Phoenix. I haven’t seen him since he left me on the altar with my center aching from his lovemaking and his seed painted on my thighs.

“Are you hungry?” Leona asks after we’ve been driving for a while.

“What?”

“Food,” she enunciates. “You want any?”

My stomach doesn’t register hunger, but I’m aware that I’ve barely eaten in days. “No, I’m not hungry.”

“You should eat anyway,” Leona says. “Otherwise, you’ll waste away to nothing.”

“What would it matter?”

“It might matter to him.” She jerks her head towards Theo.

I look at the steady rise and fall of his chest and my heart aches all over again. Glancing up, I see Leona’s gaze searching my face. Checking to see how close I am to falling apart completely.

“You noticed, didn’t you?” I ask.

She smiles empathetically. “Your parents weren’t exactly subtle.”

“No,” I murmur. “They needed to make a statement.”

I wipe away my tears as Leona roots around in a cooler at our feet, pulls out an apple, and takes a bite. She leans back against her seat and crosses her ankle over her knee like a man would. It’s a very masculine gesture for someone with such a feminine aura.

“How old are you?” I ask curiously.

“Twenty-eight.”

“Oh. I assumed you were younger.”

“Most people do. I think it’s just my youthful exuberance. Oh, and my flawless complexion. Shoulda been a Cover Girl instead of taking up this gig.”

“You work for Phoenix?”

“Actually, up until recently, I worked for his father. But I was reassigned a few weeks ago. Apparently, to play nanny.”

I raise my eyebrows. “And you’re not happy about that?”

She takes another bite of her apple. “I like action, being in the thick of things,” she explains. “Don’t get me wrong—Theo’s a babe… But this is not the kind of action I had in mind when I was assigned to work for Phoenix Kovalyov.” She speaks his name with a reverence that’s hard to miss.

“What did you have in mind?”

She shrugs. “Shoot-outs, heists, crazy missions. That kind of thing,” she says. “Although, this counts as a crazy mission, I suppose.” She gives me a smile. “I’m also a bodyguard, just so you know. For you and for the little angel. My job is to make sure the two of you are safe.”

I stiffen. Bad memories resurface. “Oh.”

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