Page 70 of Guarded Rebellion

Over the next couple of days, Kelly and Eva stayed in the apartment without being asked. They didn’t seem inclined to leave at all. Recovering and resting was their gameplan. I doubted any schoolwork was even on their minds at all.

Their friendship solidified, and I wouldn’t argue against giving Eva what she wanted in this regard. The more I came to know her, the more I realized how lonely she’d been all her life.

“Has anyone reported any news on the Petrovs?” Oleg asked me as I paced in my room two days after I’d damn near lost my life. Bruises darkened my skin. The cuts itched as scabs formed over them. I looked worse for wear, but aside from the slighttwinges of pain in a select few muscle groups, I felt as good as new.

“No.” He was aware that I’d asked for more soldiers on campus. Half were disguised as students to infiltrate and get closer to where we suspected Irina or the soldiers assigned to her might be. Other Baranov men were suited and recognizable as an increase of the Baranov force.

“What the fuck?” the Boss mumbled in reply.

I knew him well enough to take that as a rhetorical response, not an actual question for me to answer.

“And no sightings of that man you killed when you took out Yusuf?” he asked.

I couldn’t help a gruff laugh. “No. He was dead, sir.”

A deep sigh came from his end. “I know. But… fuck. I don’t know what I know anymore.”

“I am heading out to patrol and check on the men. Irina is still on campus. She’s been spotted at classes with the one or two men guarding her. But other than that… Nothing has changed.”

“Something will change, though. I assigned you to Eva because I know you won’t fail me.”

Define that, please.I felt like I had failed already in so many ways. I let her get too close to that fucker who fought me in that dorm room. I wasn’t there to stop that Ilyin man from almost raping her. And I had fucked her, helping myself to her in the closest way possible when I took her virginity that was intended for someone else.

“And I’ve been wondering about the rumors of the Petrovs and Ilyins distributing drugs on campus there. It’s a breach in our agreements. It’s neutral ground,” he reminded me unnecessarily.

The college Eva had chosen to attend was near the city but not designated as any family’s territory. Not the gangs or Cartel, either.

“Maybe that’s what changed,” I told him. “Maybe one of the families has bought off someone high up for the college and those boundaries are changed.”

“That’s what I’m testing by letting Eva be there.”

“She’s bait?” I asked, furious and not caring that he could hear it in my voice.

“No. She’s not participating. She doesn’t use drugs. Doesn’t buy them, doesn’t sell them, doesn’t look for them.”

I nodded at the truths he spoke.

“But she is a Baranov. And her presence there would be a catalyst if someone has taken over the college as part of their turf.”

It was never about letting her come here because she wanted to.I disliked how she’d been… used.

“That’s why I wanted you to go with her. To spy. To see what happens.”

“Gambling on her life, you mean.”

“Did you just say what I think you said?” he asked.

Fuck.I wasn’t trying to be combative with the man who’d taken me in.

“I apologize for my tone,” I said.

“But not your words?”

“No.” I wouldn’t lie about that. “I dislike the notion that anyone could gamble on her life.”

“Because you’ve been tasked with keeping her safe?”

Fuck!He was on to me. I didn’t like the idea of the Boss gambling on his niece’s life because I was falling in love with her. Because I didn’t want to lose her.

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