Page 64 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

“You have a decision to make.”

I know she’s not following. I know she won’t follow.

As much as I want to, I refuse to look back. If the choice I’ve given her is to hold any meaning, I can’t keep reeling her back in.

* * *

When I get back to the house, I go straight to the basement cell to speak to Josiah again.

I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching in the last day since my argument with Matvei. I’m not so far gone that I don’t see the truth in his warnings.

But my mind is made up. I’ve come too far to turn back now.

I will not abandon my attempt to destroy Astra Tyrannis and leave thousands of innocent souls at their mercy. My son and wife must be avenged. So too must all those faceless women and children whose lives were stolen and fed to the mill.

The task gives me purpose. Without it, I’d crumble.

I walk into Josiah’s cell feeling more in control than I have in months. The rage is still there, but it’s tempered now. Tamed.

Josiah snaps upright when I enter, fear pooling in his eyes. I pull up a chair and sit down opposite him.

“Don’t worry,” I tell him in a cool voice. “I just want to talk.”

He looks down cautiously. “Okay.”

“Viktor Ozol,” I say. “Does that name mean anything to you?”

He shakes his head immediately. I pull out the switchblade knife I keep stowed away in my left boot. Flipping it open, I run it along my finger.

“On another night,” I muse, “I’d wave this in your face and threaten you. I’d tell you which finger I’m going to cut off, which vein I’m going to slice open if you don’t talk to me.”

He blanches and swallows.

“But I’m not going to do that tonight, Josiah,” I finish grimly. I flick the knife closed and stow it away again. “Tonight, I’m just going to ask you questions. And you’re going to answer me. You’re going to answer each and every one of those questions as fully and completely as you can.”

My voice is steel itself. Cold. Unyielding. Josiah can feel the difference. I’m not an untamed fire anymore.

I am Don Phoenix Kovalyov and I am here to get what I want.

“Nod if you understand.”

He nods.

“Good,” I croon. “That’s very good. Now, I’ll ask again. Does the name Viktor Ozol mean anything to you?”

“He’s… one of the powers that be.”

“And you’ve had contact with him?”

“Sometimes,” Josiah replies, trembling slightly. He hugs his body close, his eyes darting around the room as though searching for an escape hatch he will never find. “He usually sends emissaries in his place. But… sometimes I speak to him.”

“And he gives you money?”

“Yes.”

“In exchange for?”

“For… help.”

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