Page 53 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

“I’m going to talk to Josiah,” I snarl finally. “If you’d like to do your job, you’re welcome to join me. If not, stay the fuck out of my way.”

We stare at each other wordlessly. Chests heaving with barely restrained anger and adrenaline. We’ve fought before, Matvei and me.

But this… this is different.

In the end, he sighs and his shoulders slump forward. I take that as a sign of victory and stalk out of the office without saying anything.

Matvei follows me wordlessly down to the basement cell. It’s a little colder as we descend. “Have a guard posted outside the door when I’m done with him,” I order Matvei. Then, without waiting for his response, I yank open the door and stride inside.

Josiah is slumped in the corner, lying on his thin mattress in a fetal position. His face is drained of color, but his bandages are fresh.

Matvei drags in a chair for me, then backs away and lingers in the corner, observing. I set the stool down in front of Josiah’s mattress.

“Josiah,” I rasp. “Wake up. Time for you and I to chat.”

He flinches at the sound of my voice, but his eyes dart open immediately. Wearily, he pulls himself upright and rests his back against the wall.

“Getting settled in nicely?” I ask.

He seems to sigh, but I don’t see his shoulders rise or fall. There’s a strange expression on his face. It’s oddly vacant. Like he’s looking at me, but not really seeing me.

“I’m here to continue that conversation we started earlier,” I continue.

“I have nothing left to say.”

“Do I have to remind you what will happen if you refuse to answer my questions?”

“I was weak before,” he says with the kind of manic devoutness that only lunatics and cult leaders have. “I was taken unaware. I should have been stronger.”

“Meaning you regret outing your bosses?”

He looks down and I see his jaw set with resoluteness. His silence is an answer.

“How did you get involved with Astra Tyrannis?”

“They came to me,” he says shortly. “The powers that be heard of my calling and revealed their face to their prophet.”

“And asked you to help them procure women and children for the meat market?”

His eyes flare up to mine, his expression twisting into disgust. “No, of course not! That’s not what Astra Tyrannis is about.”

I bark out a laugh. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Astra Tyrannis is run by powerful men,” Josiah says. “I’m aware of that. But they try to help people.”

“So the answer is yes—you’re definitely fucking kidding me.”

“They’ve helped the commune over the years. They’ve shaped the Sanctuary into the holy space it was always meant to be.”

“How selfless of them,” I declare, glancing back over my shoulder to shoot Matvei a look. “Tell me, how have they helped?”

“Money, of course. It is a foul thing, but no man can exist in this world without it.”

“So they give you money. And what do you do in return?”

“Nothing! They ask for nothing in return. The powers that be are selfless and magnanimous.”

I rock back on two legs of the stool and run a hand through my hair. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

---