Page 13 of Savage Surrender

After two weeks, I was certain she was hiding something. I doubted it was anything like a confidential matter that the Boss could really benefit from. But I knew for a fact that she was an expert at hiding her emotions. That cool, blank ice princess mask wasn’t something anyone was born with. She’d developed it. Given how young she was, I was even more intrigued why she had grown up knowing how to hide herself and look indifferent to the world.

Checking in with Lev and Rurik would hopefully give me some insight for what I was supposed to be looking for. Because so far, I had nothing. Rurik had given me a rundown when I started, but I felt like I was missing something else.

“Why am I following her again?” I asked them both after they met me for coffee the day after I saw Irina at that party.

“You’re not supposed to be following her,” Lev said, furrowing his brow.

“He’s not,” Rurik said. “He’s around, but he’s not actively stalking her.”

I nodded. “Because this isn’t my first rodeo at this shit.” Smiling smugly, I let them laugh. “I’m not ‘following’ her, but I am making a point of running into her.” It wasn’t hard. The campus was large, but if I went to the commonly frequented places that staff and students visited, the odds were high that I’d cross paths with Irina without even trying to.

“You couldn’t look like you’re stalking her with the legions of fans interfering,” Rurik teased with a shit-eating grin.

“Ah.” Lev smirked. “Garnering attention, are you?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not that bad.”

Rurik laughed. “Remember the beginning ofIndiana Jones? When he’s teaching and all the students are staring at him like he hung the moon?”

I shoved at his shoulder. “I said it’s not that bad.”

“If only those girls knew what they were lusting for,” Lev taunted. “A big, bad brothel boss.”

“Nice alliteration you got there.” I lifted my coffee to him, mocking him.

“Funny.” He flipped me off.

Hell, I was lecturing about the English language. Crap likealliterationwas on my mind. “They’re just typical horny girls. Eager to have the whole college experience and experiment sexually.” I shrugged. “I’m happy that I’m not getting the attention from anyone else on campus.” And I’d noticed a few faces.

“You saw them too?” Rurik asked. He turned to Lev. “A few more Petrovs have shown up on campus.”

I hadn’t talked to Rurik recently either, so it was good to hear that I wasn’t alone in this observation.

“More than anyone who’d be there to watch over Irina?” Lev asked.

Rurik shook his head. “They’re still staying back from her. Like they were when you were on campus as Eva’s bodyguard.”

“They’re there,” I said, backing him up. “But they gave her space. I’ve been curious about that.”

“Why?” Lev asked.

“Well, are they slacking to let her go off on her own this much? She was at that party by herself while the guards waited outside.”Or do they trust her to be able to handle herself if she gets in a bad situation?

“They were like that when I was guarding over Eva,” Lev said. “Keeping a distance.”

Telling Lev about the increase of more men on campus, both from the Petrov and Ilyin families, was done now. That task was only part of what I wanted to share in this meeting. I was most interested in getting more clues about whatIhad to do.

“So, again, why am I supposed to be following Irina or getting closer to get intel from her?” I shrugged. “What exactly do you think that she could know? As far as I can tell, she’s just a stuck-up brat who seems bored about going to college. Social, but never seeming close to anyone specifically.”

Rurik looked at Lev, who frowned and wore a pensive expression. “We suspect she has to know something about what Igor Petrov is up to.”

“Why? Just because she’s his daughter?” I huffed and set my coffee mug down. “That doesn’t mean shit. Oleg doesn’t tell Eva everything.” It was just a fact of our lives. Mafia women weren’t privy to details that the men found and collected. Women simply didn’t matter in terms of power—until they could serve as a pawn in an arranged marriage or breed babies for the next generation.

“Eva wouldn’t be a spy,” Lev argued instantly. “Oleg values her happiness too much to ever ask that of her.”

I held my hand up to ward off any anger he might feel toward me for making that comparison. He was so damn protective of her. “Yes. I agree. But would Igor Petrov really rely on using his daughter as a spy? He’s got plenty of men to use for that.”

Rurik shrugged. “Not necessarily. Irina could be a spy and get closer to people on campus because no one would suspect her.”

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