Page 81 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

“Does that meanIshould have expected this?” I ask. “I should have expected that being here, being around you, meant losing my son?”

I know I shouldn’t say the words even as I say them. But I can’t seem to stop myself.

My pain is greedy. It demands space. It demands fuel. It demands room to spread and fester and consume as much as it can.

“You’re upset,” Phoenix says, his jaw twitching with the effort of staying calm.

“Upset?” I repeat furiously. “Is that what I seem like to you?Upset? Am I throwing a temper tantrum, Phoenix?”

“I meant—”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to talk to me as though I’m a child?” I glare at him. “Not to talk to me as though I’m an idiot?”

“I’m going to go after them, you know,” Phoenix says with steely-eyed determination. “I’m going to track down the bastards who have Theo. I’m going to get him back. And then… then I’m going to kill every single man who had anything to do with this.”

I can hear the promise in his voice. I see the danger in his eyes.

He means every word.

And the thought of him succeeding terrifies me every bit as much as the thought of him failing.

“Phoenix,” I beg, “you just said yourself that my son’s life hangs in the balance. What if the risk—”

“Everything is a risk, Elyssa.”

“It doesn’t have to be. Ask for a meeting with Sakamoto. Offer him a deal. Money, territory, whatever he wants. Just get my son back—without any violence. I don’t want him caught in the crosshairs of another fight.”

“They don’t want anything I have to offer,” he says. “There was no attempt to get anyone but Theo and Josiah. Which means Eiko and Astra Tyrannis have no interest in the others. They got what they came for.”

“They came for my son?”

“They came formyson,” he corrects. “Anna would have informed them of Theo’s parentage. Men like Eiko, like Viktor Ozol… they’d want to inflict as much pain as they could. This is their way.”

“I don’t care who they are or what they’re doing!” I cry out. “I just want my son back.”

“And the way to do that is to trust me.”

“Do you know where they’re headed?” I ask.

“No,” he says. “But I’ll find out.”

“I’m coming with you when you do.”

His eyes narrow just the tiniest bit. “Elyssa.”

“Don’t. Don’t say my name like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you expect me to know better,” I reply. “I’m coming with you. End of discussion.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“Which means it’ll be doubly dangerous for Theo,” I retort. “I don’t care what you say. I’m going.”

“And if you die?” he demands. “What point will it serve if we get Theo back only to lose you?”

“You think I care about myself?” I scoff. “I don’t. The only thing I want is for my baby to be somewhere safe.” I choke on my last few words and turn around as tears blur my vision. “Oh God. Oh God…”

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