Page 76 of Guarded Rebellion

Oleg called her a catalyst, to weed out any clues about whether another family had tried to claim the college as part of their protected territory. I wasn’t a fan of her being used like that, or at all, but so long as I was with her to ensure her safety and happiness, then I would do as the big boss deemed necessary.

But I wonder how she’d feel about his underlying motives for letting her come here…

“What?” I asked her.

“I think she gets kind of sad when she sees… us.”

“Us?” I glanced down at her.

“Yeah. Seeing us together when she’s alone.”

Ah.Eva and I hadn’t gone out of our way to hide how we felt about each other. I was quick to muffle her screams when we made love and fucked hard, but all the touches. The kisses. The smiles—more of hers than mine, but still.

“I wonder if that’s why my mother left, too. Why she took Sonya with her.”

I furrowed my brow. She seldom talked about the woman I never met. Eva’s mother had already left before I started working for the family. “What do you mean?”

“My father couldn’t have loved her. He cared only about having his alcohol and not pissing off my uncle too much so he’d have a lazy, cozy life at that mansion. If she was sick of not having love, if she was jealous of other women in the family settling and having a husband…” She shrugged. “It’s stupid. I’m being silly. Love isn’t something that happens in our world, but…”

I stopped her at the car, framing her face before kissing her. “It can.” I didn’t come out and say those words to her, but I wanted her to know I was coming closer to risking them. “As soon as this danger is over, this mystery about the drugs is solved, I want to tell him.”

She parted her lips in shock.

“I intend to tell your uncle that we’re…” I wasn’t sure how to word it. I was looking at the woman I wanted to protect, possess, and call mine forever.

She didn’t give me a chance to say it, anyway. “Oh, Lev.” She lunged up, kissing me harder.

“After,” I reminded her once I let her step back. “After all this shit is dealt with and we know who’s trying to cause issues.”

She nodded, getting in the car for the ride to campus. “I agree. After. When I’m no longer a target.”

We reached the campus, and I followed her out in the cold gray gloom of this late February day. She frowned when she saw that Kelly wasn’t standing and waiting for her.

I checked my phone. “Rurik said she headed to the library instead and is studying there.”

Eva nodded, masking her sorrow at her new—only—friend pulling away.

I stood at the back of the auditorium as she attended her lecture. Between looking for Bryce, a Petrov, or an Ilyin and consulting with my phone to check the messages of my men reporting in, I felt busier than I wanted to be. Staying alert was a draining routine, and with how long I’d been on edge and worried about someone making good on getting to Eva, I was near burn-out.

“I forgot something in the car,” Eva said once we walked out after this first lecture concluded.

“Do you have time before going to your next class?” I asked.

“No.” She shrugged. “But I’ll just have to be late.”

Walking quickly to stay warm, we reached the parking lot within record time. Few students were coming and going at this hour of the morning, and I mildly mused that many of them were likely sleeping to avoid being out in the cold, gloomy weather.

“I think the car was in the next aisle over,” she said when I started to direct her to the left.

I nodded. I knew where I’d parked my car. But until those two men passed, I wouldn’t feel confident about her heading down that narrow path.

“Lev, it’s?—”

She screamed as the men charged into her and carried her off.

I gritted my teeth, sprinting after them. My gun was out. I lifted it and aimed it at them, steering clear of her, but they turned around a parked van, blocking my range.

“Put her down!” I yelled. “Let her go!”

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