Page 41 of Savage Surrender

Whoa. Wait a second. Fall for?

“Forget about it,” I muttered as I drove. I shook my head, amused by the way my thoughts were going. I wasnotfalling for my target. I refused to admit that my feelings were getting too deep where the enemy was concerned.

“It’s just sex.” And I, more than many others, should be able to respect the difference between something like true intimacy and physical fucking. I’d immersed myself in the world of sex, managing whorehouses. My view of sex had been dulled. Yet, my opinions and nagging thoughts about Irina challenged me to wonder if I’d stumbled upon something different and something so real with her.

It's just because of the danger and mystery attached to all of this. If she were just a random twentysomething wandering into the whorehouse, I wouldn’t have paid any extra attention to her.

I winced as I parked, hating the sensation that I was lying to myself.

Right?

Shelving my thoughts about Irina, I went into the warehouse where Oleg was supervising a couple of men torturing a Cartel member who’d been caught snooping around our warehouse, planting listening devices. In an office on an upper level,with one-way mirrored windows so we could look out at what happened down below, I faced the Boss.

He listened, always attentive and sharp, as I updated him about this fresh call from Timber.

“In other words,” he summed up without any strong emotion, suggesting he was tired of the lack of answers, “nothing new.”

“Sounds like it.” I shrugged and put my hands in my pockets.

“Thank you for updating me.”

“No problem.” While it would’ve made more sense for Timber to just contact Oleg himself, we maintained my role as a middle man to insulate both sides. Not just anyone could call or speak with Oleg Baranov. He was too powerful to be that accessible.

“I’m glad you had a chance to drive in and speak with me,” he added, giving me a curious look. “Not too busy following the Petrov girl today?”

I shook my head. There was no way in hell I would tell him that Ihadfollowed her recently, like in the library before I gagged her and fucked her. “She’s been lying low lately.”

“I’m not surprised.”

I furrowed my brow, instantly alert for whathecould know.

“I was curious about what you said about that night when the Ilyin men were trying to capture her at that gathering.” He stared at me, serious and pensive. “So curious that I asked around about any chance the Ilyins might want to cause a diversion for Igor Petrov.”

I nodded. “I considered that as well.”

“Or if they wanted to provoke him by taking his only daughter.”

Again, I nodded in agreement. Those thoughts had hit me as well.

“What I heard is more surprising, though.” He cleared his throat then continued in his raspy smoker’s voice that wasn’t helped by his love of cigars. “It sounds like Igor Petrov is promising Irina in marriage to one of the Ilyins. Andre Ilyin, perhaps.”

I’d seen that fucker on campus, too. He had to be watching her, maybe motivated to do so because he thought he’d be marrying her.

I tensed, immediately loathing the possibility of Irina being married to… well, anyone. I’d claimed her virginity. She’d shown interest in me. The thought of her with any other man filled me with rage.

“Any thoughts on that?” Oleg asked, not judging, not fishing for anything.

I must have gone silent for longer than I’d realized. Fuming and trying to accept the gravity of this news, I blinked and searched for a response.

I had too many thoughts about Irina being promised in marriage to anyone. I couldn’t handle the image of another man even touching her. Being this possessive over her was anothershouldn’twhen it came to my rights with her, but I couldn’t help it.

She’s mine.

My target. My enemy. My obsession. Irina Petrov was too damn perfect for me to envision her belonging with anyone else.

I furrowed my brow, knowing I had to give him an answer, one that wouldn’t lower his faith or respect for me after an admission that I’d slept with the enemy. He wouldn’t be bothered if I’d slept with her for the sake of seducing her and manipulating her for intel, but he wouldn’t be on board with my wanting more intimacy with her for the sake of feeling complete.

“Do you trust that word?” I hated how defensive and combative I sounded. “Do you believe that he would arrange for her to marry one of them?”

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