Page 94 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

“Well?” I ask when her answer doesn’t come readily. “Tell me.”

“I’d… I’d interrogate some of the prisoners,” she says shakily. “I’d try and get whatever information I can from them.”

“Is that right?” he asks.

“Raj.”

I stop short and pull back so that I can look at her face. “What?”

“Raj,” she gulps. “That’s the name my father gave me. He said that Raj knows things. He was basically in charge until Josiah recovered.”

I release her in surprise. I didn’t expect a real answer. This is… significant.

“He was assigned to take over Josiah’s duties until he got better,” Elyssa continues. I’m shocked to hear the guilt that still taints her voice when she speaks of that night.

“Assigned by whom?”

She bites her lip. I know what she’s going to say before she even says it. “The powers that be.”

“Jesus,” I say, pushing off the wall and pacing around the cell. “So that means Astra Tyrannis picked this person. This Raj.”

Elyssa’s eyes go wide. “Do you think…?”

I don’t hesitate. I turn to the door and pull it open violently before turning to Elyssa.

“You want me to do things your way?” I ask. “Come on then. We’re doing it your way.”

I don’t give her a chance to second guess. I leave the cell and she’s forced to follow behind me.

Matvei is still standing down at the mouth of the hallway. He looks up as we approach, but I ignore him completely and keep walking until I reach the man guarding the bunker.

“Where are the prisoner logs?” I demand.

He rushes to get me the book.

“Search for someone named Raj,” I order. “Quickly.”

He runs through the list of names while I stand there, breathing down his neck. Elyssa slinks forward, blinking against the sunlight filtering in through the open door.

It takes several more minutes, but he finally locates the name on the log. “Here, sir,” he says. “Bunker two. Cell thirteen.”

I nod and make my way to bunker two, one building over. I’m already ten feet away when I realize that Elyssa isn’t behind me. I turn to find her still standing by the first bunker’s door.

“Well, come on,” I say harshly.

She raises her eyebrows. “You want me to come with you for the interrogation?”

“You want to make decisions?” I say. “Then you have to be there to see your decisions unfold. That’s what it means to be in charge.”

She looks momentarily terrified—and then her face sets with determination.

She has to run to keep up with me, but I don’t slow down for her benefit.

The guard at bunker two swings the door open for me when he sees me coming. I breeze past him and go straight for the cell that this Raj motherfucker is apparently in. I find it, unbolt the lock, and stride inside.

The man sitting in the far corner of the cell is thin and short. A diminutive man with features that can only be described as pretty. His dark gaze lands on me with perfect serenity, as though he’s not surprised at all by my abrupt arrival.

Of all the prisoners I’ve laid eyes on, he looks by far the most at ease.

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