Page 22 of Savage Surrender

“I need to go.” Turning so quickly that I almost lost my balance, I ran toward the door.

My worry about my brother trumped this stubborn interest I couldn’t shake for Professor Viktor Remi.

Because if there was one thing I’d gamble on, it was that this interest would go nowhere.

11

VIKTOR

Icouldn’t believe that she left me like that. That she’d taken the courage to bolt.

She had been putty in my hands until her phone buzzed with a text. Whoever contacted her had given her bad news, because that was the only explanation I could think of that would have caused her to go from a flushed face of arousal, so excited about kissing me and keeping up with this flirty conversation, to a pale expression of dread. She could barely speak, rushing away, and while I didn’t know everything about her, I was clued in enough that her stammering speech wasn’t the norm.

If she hadn’t given me a sign that she’d been wanting me back, I would’ve believed her sudden departure. But she had been into it, intrigued by what I said and curious about how I broke the rules to touch her.

Her quitting on that pissed me off. I wasn’t so far into the act that I couldn’t have reined myself in. I was in control, and of course, sometimes, things don’t go as planned. That was life. In the art and game of seduction, I had to be ready for anything ranging from rejection to eagerness.

“She wasn’t debating it,” I reminded myself as I walked across campus to check in with Rurik. All night and all morning, I obsessed about why she’d taken off and what I could do next. Rurik’s call to check in with me was a slight distraction, but still, Irina was at the forefront of my mind.

There was no way in hell I was abandoning my plan to seduce her. When I first told the other two that I’d try to get closer to Irina and get her to open up that way, I intended to use that method as just part of the job that I had to do to get answers.

After I saw the fire in her eyes, it was hard not to get addicted. Likewise, when that fire and interest dimmed, I was greedy and impatient in wanting to know what happened to make her lose her spirit so suddenly, what thoughts she could’ve had to make her frown so quickly.

Maybe something to do with whatever spooked her to run away?

I would drive myself insane speculating, and I didn’t intend to all day. She would be at the poetry class, so I could look forward to another chance of seeing her there. I doubted she’d mention our conversation from yesterday, but dammit, I wanted to bring it up and get a rise out of her. I wanted to complete the unfinished business of her closing her eyes and leaning in toward me, completely committed to a kiss.

Rurik was already seated at the coffee shop. This smaller vendor spot wasn’t one that Irina ever went to, so I felt safe that I could concentrate on whatever Rurik had to say for at least five minutes.

“Hey,” I greeted. “I don’t have much time.”

He nodded, gesturing at the coffee he’d already ordered for me. “I know.”

“Oh.” I raised my brows. “Thanks.” I took a seat across from him and brought the black coffee up toward my lips. “I didn’t realize you’d be bribing me to talk.”

“No.” He chuckled at my weak joke. “I just figured I was throwing your morning game off, asking you to meet up before you have to ‘work’.”

“Well, thanks.” I set the cup down after a sip. “So, what’s up?”

Something urgent, or else he wouldn’t have texted to meet. He wasn’t even here all the time, expected to carry out surveillance on a variety of projects.

“I was listening in to some of the men near the library late last night.”

I laughed lightly. “When I heard that big library was open twenty-four, seven, I thought it was a joke.”

He nodded. “They just changed the hours like that. I guess to better accommodate all the late-night students who wanted to use it.”

“I saw.” Hell, when I went to college before Oleg needed me elsewhere for the family, the library was for studying and the nights were for partying. Then again, some of the people who pretended to study there had seemed to be prepping for a line or shooting up before a party. Maybe the library had become a stop in getting ready for the usual nighttime mayhem college students got up to.

“Anyway, I was close enough to listen in to some people, and it sounds like the Ilyins who’ve been hanging around lately are to blame for the rapes last night.”

I furrowed my brow. The concept of rape wasn’t anything scandalous, not to me. After the many years I’d supervised the whorehouses for the Boss, it was something I’d dealt with a lot. Both in ensuring no clients or guests were raping women and getting away without pay, and also that the elite whores weren’t being abused. Another brother managed the sex clubs. That was a whole different niche and branch of the family’s revenue. Weirder, kinkier shit happened there, but the whorehouses were supposed to be more of the standard fucking. Exceptions happened, of course, but it was in our best interests to keep good talent. Better whores meant better-paying clients.

“Last night?” I asked. I knew from the background the men had given me that the increase of drugs being circulated often resulted in more rapes and attacks being reported. But hell, that shit would happen until the end of time, and not just here, but all over the world. We weren’t here to try to police anything. It wasn’t our business how often women were being raped. I did care, though, so I took this news in consideration of how it could affect my mission here.

Rurik nodded. “Yeah. It sounds like the Ilyin men are getting more daring in being seen, not only in pushing drugs, but looping women in for business and pleasure, if you get what I’m saying.”

I shook my head, slightly unprepared for all the politics and drama that would need to be puzzled out on an assignment like this. At the whorehouses, or even those few weeks I’d spent in Moscow to follow up on those leads about Sonya, everything wascut and dry. I knew what I had to do. I could count on all the players to be who they were, and that was that.

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