Page 79 of Guarded Rebellion

“He’s dead. He is a dead man,” the gruffer voice said. “Anyone who dares to attack one of ours will know no mercy.”

“I heard you,” the Petrov said. “I heard you. Are we even now? Huh? You wanted to get Kvashnin for finishing that hit on Yusuf, and I’ve delivered him.”

Oh, shit.I was completely aware of what I was hearing. That gruff-sounding man had to be an Ilyin soldier. Because connecting the dots of what he said, they wanted retaliation for Lev killing their leader. The man he’d taken out on his last mission before becoming my bodyguard. He’d killed Yusuf Ilyin, and now they were going after him.

That was expected. It was often an eye for an eye in our world, and that cycle would never be broken. The shocker was that the Petrovs were helping the Ilyins. This Petrov soldier had me kidnapped, no doubt to lure Lev into the Ilyins’ hands.

No. No, no, no.

That asshole who’d snatched me out of the parking lot had spoken as though it was a done deal.“And I’ve delivered him.”

They had Lev. They’d used me to lure him away from the impenetrable apartment and the crowded campus where he always had Rurik, Marcus, and a team he’d organized as backup to keep me safe. But it wasn’tmewho needed the direct protection now. It washim. They’d been plotting to get him.

Someone pushed the door to this room open further. It had been cracked ajar, but no one stepped inside.

I tensed, going completely still and rigid as I stared at the panel of wood. Holding my breath, I mentally demanded that they show themselves.

Minutes dragged on with no one entering. The Ilyin and Petrov soldiers seemed to have walked off too, their voices carrying further away in the cavernous building.

Then, she came.

“Don’t speak,” Irina scolded quietly. She rushed toward me, looking over her shoulder. “Get the file in your hand. As soon as they bring him in, save him.”

I narrowed my eyes at her as she leaned over me, reaching into the coat pockets that were damnably too far away. Trust was earned. Her act of giving me a tool to aid my escape was a great way to earn it, but I was too guarded and skeptical to just listen to her.

“They are framing the Ilyins for the drugs,” she whispered, pushing the narrow metal file into my hands as she watched the door. “The drug arrangement that fell through, my family is behind it. They want to own the college and expand their territory.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“So you can tell him.” She frowned down at me as she fumbled in her pockets again, then turned to glance at the door. “Tell your lover.”

I arched a brow.

“Don’t play stupid. He’s not just a guard. I’ve seen him watching you.” She pushed something else into my pocket, but this time, I caught a glance of the metal pieces. Keys.

“The Petrovs are framing the Ilyins for the drug trade breaking up. They led your uncle to believe it was the Ilyins’ fault.”

“Shit. And Lev being tasked to kill Yusuf has them going after him now.”

She nodded. “They’re staging it so the Ilyins will attack the best of the Baranovs.”

Crashes sounded outside the room. She flinched but didn’t scurry away before shooting me one more stern look. “Use the truck in the back. And tell him. Tell your uncle.”

“Why—” I slapped my lips shut, though, as she ran toward another door behind me. I craned my neck to twist and see her, but the ache in my back from being rolled in the van prevented me from fully pivoting to see her.

Men kicked the door open in front of me, and I nearly gave myself whiplash turning around to witness Lev’s arrival.

Ilyin soldiers dragged him in. They entered close enough to drop him to the floor at my feet.

“See how pretty your bodyguard is now,” one sneered in Russian.

I spat at his face. “Fuck you.”

He reared his arm back to slap me, but Lev proved that he was more than a ragged, breathing sack of pain. Kicking out fast, he dropped the man with his boot, striking the back of the man’s ankle.

That was all it took for commotion to settle in. He was tortured, so bloody and beaten, but I didn’t focus on his wounds. The other soldier lifted his gun to aim it at him as he fisted his hair and forced him to look at me.

“Watch, motherfucker,” he growled. “Watch us fuck your woman up. Watch us ruin her. And then you can meet your slow death.”

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