Page 54 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

“They’re our benefactors. They mean us no harm.”

“What about all the women who’ve gone missing from the Sanctuary over the years?” I ask. “Explain that to me.”

I’m distantly aware of motion in the corner. Matvei shakes his head and leaves the room, leaving Josiah staring after him like he’s worried about ghosts hiding in the shadows.

His eyes eventually flicker back to mine. “There are no missing women. They made choices. They left of their own accord or they were cast out for their crimes.”

“Which were…?”

“Adultery, violence, disobedience. There are many ways to displease our creators. We have a code we follow. Those who cannot live up to it have no place in our Sanctuary.”

His answers come quick and easy. He’s confident in a way he wasn’t before.

But I don’t believe a word that’s coming from his mouth.

Matvei re-enters the room and hands me the file that my men have been compiling ever since I found the tattoo on Anna’s corpse.

“Do you know what I have here?” I ask Josiah. “Any idea what this is?”

He shrugs but says nothing.

“Names,” I tell him, leaning forward. “So many fucking names. Shall I read some?”

He shrugs again. I notice a bead of sweat gathering at his temple despite the chill in the room.

“Selah Samuelsson. Carys Overstreet. Clementina Elmore. Asriel Godfrey.”

Josiah flinches at each one. He tries to hide it, but I see. I see fucking everything.

“You know these names, Father Josiah. Don’t you?”

“Of course. Wayward or not, they are my flock; I am their shepherd.”

I laugh. “That makes you a pretty shitty fucking shepherd. Because they’re all dead. Just like every other woman in this folder. Dozens and dozens and dozens of them.”

Unbelievably, the bastard has the balls to shrug again. “The outside world is a cruel place. That is why we built the Sanctuary—to shelter ourselves from its evils.”

I feel sick to my goddamn stomach. “They were practically children,” I seethe. I glance back down at the list and start reading. “Eighteen years old. Seventeen. Seventeen. Seventeen.”

“The Sanctuary is an oasis,” he says. “One drop of poison can destroy such a thing.”

“They were innocent fucking girls!” I roar in Josiah’s face. “You threw them out to the sharks.”

His lower lip stiffens and he draws himself up as high as he can, given his injuries. “I would never do anything to harm my people.”

“No? Then what would you call raping Elyssa? Is that ‘protecting’ her?”

He lifts his gaze to mine. Denial bubbles in his irises like venom. “I did no such thing.”

“She didn’t want your cock inside her,” I hiss. “You shoved it in anyway. Should we consult a dictionary on the definition of the term, Father?”

“I had already taken her under my wing.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means she was under my protection. Marked for me. She was as good as my wife.”

“You’re a delusional fucking psychopath. You forced yourself on her.”

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