Page 51 of Guarded Rebellion

“But her biological parents are drug addicts. They’ve been affiliated with a gang in Brooklyn.”

She shook her head. “Not Kelly, though.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“She’s not an enemy, Lev. She’s never been associated with her family. She was put through the system.”

“That still isn’t enough to make me completely trust her.”

“Too bad.” She grunted a wry laugh. “I do. And I’m going to help her whether you want me to or not.”

“It’s not a matter of what you want,” I reminded her.

“I know! Because God forbid I want for anything, right? I have no power over my life. I can’t actually make any decisions about what I might want or not want. You don’t have to remind me of how fucking powerless I am!”

I kept my mouth shut. It was on the tip of my tongue to warn her about talking back to me like this and giving me hell. She wasn’t powerless. She was a figure of strength for just being a Baranov. She had power over me, luring me to want her even though nothing in our lives could indicate that was a possibility.

“You want to take away theonefriend I’ve made just so you can lord over me and deprive me of anything good? Huh?” She turned to snarl at me, forgetting that icy demeanor and letting me see the full wrath she couldn’t bottle in.

In those blue orbs so bright with anger, though, I saw how hurt she was too.

That this mattered.

As more than an act of defiance, but as a means of making a friend and keeping it. A friend ofherchoosing, not a peer within the Mafia world.

Instead of explaining any of what ran through my head, I took the easy way out by saying nothing at all. I wasn’t rehearsed on what to tell her. It was automatic to tell her what she could and couldn’t do. Realizing that I cared about her not feeling this stuck and powerless was an outlier I needed more time to consider.

I parked at the dorm building and scanned the surroundings as Eva and I hurried inside. No one stood around as a threat, but any time I was on campus with her, I felt like we were watched. Cameras were everywhere. In crowds, any stalker could blend in.Staying right behind her and taking comfort in the weight of my gun I carried under my coat appeased me, though.

Eva had never been in here, always at the apartment, so I counted on her to be confused on which way to go.

“Fifth floor,” I told her.Iknew the floor. I had that information because I’d scoped out the location to determine it wouldn’t be secure enough. Eva never moved in with Kelly, but I hadn’t forgotten that detail.

We rode the elevator up in silence, and the quiet gnawed at me. My nerves felt fried and frayed with this need to bridge the gap and disconnect spanning between us.

But she’s just a job.

It’s just an assignment.

She wasn’t supposed to matter as anything more, but since we’d blurred the lines by having sex, and since I’d welcomed the allure of her company, she had started to matter to me on a more personal level than I wanted to admit.

The elevator doors slid open to the correct floor, but I stepped in front of her, exiting first. If anyone was standing around to get to her, they’d have to pass by me to reach her. She didn’t protest, but the pressure of her hand on my back prodded me to hurry faster.

“Lev.”

I turned at Rurik’s voice. He’d beaten us here, apparently running up the steps via the stairwell instead of taking the elevator like we had.

“Where is she?” he asked as he jogged down the hallway toward us.

Eva grabbed the back of my shirt, then pointed at a corner where the hallways intersected. “The sign says that way.”

Redirecting our route, we changed course and ran toward the door to the floor’s bathrooms, meeting Rurik in the middle.

“Let me?—”

I held my arm up to block Eva from rushing in ahead of me.

“It’s a women’s?—”

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