Page 50 of Savage Surrender

But I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth. Not when I was certain I was well on my way to falling for her.

When I described how different we were, evading any details that she could pick up on that would clue her in to the fact that I knew all about who she was, I heard the pang of sadness in her voice when she replied.

That she was so drawn to me because she perceived me to be someone outside her world. She saw me as Professor Viktor Remi, a “normal” man. And the distinct contrast to the Mafia men she was used to was a pro, not a con.

Yet, I was as Mafia as Mafia could get. I was Vik Baranov, behind-the-scenes soldier and leader who supervised whorehouses.

If she knew that I wasn’t who she thought I was, if she learned how similar—yet apart—I was to the life she knew, a Mafia man from a rival Family, I would lose her. I’d sever that connection that she liked, this idea that a so-called normal man could want someone like her. It was a complex of hidden and altered identities, and I worried that it would ruin what we were building.

Because after I dropped her off, I knew I would fight for us. There had to be a way to bring her to my side. I had to figure out how to wrench her out of Igor Petrov’s influence and firmly convert her into being a Baranov. With me.

I’d distracted her with sex all night and morning. It prevented me from asking her what her father was up to. If I wanted to prolong the secret of who I was for a little longer, I couldn’t ask her about Igor.

It might have seemed like I was being stupid, foolish for a woman, but I had enough sense to detect hints that she might not be loyal to Igor. The way that she had secretly helped Eva and Lev escape stood for something. It stood for a lot. That action was dangerous and altruistic, putting herself at risk of her family’s anger just to help a rival.

She can’t be loyal to him.

Yet, I refused to let myself completely believe that because I feared I was already too prejudiced in wanting her to be loyal to onlyme.

Talking to Eva and Lev would help. Even Rurik. They could help shed light on what might be going on. I could only hope it wouldn’t take too long. If the Ilyins thought that Irina would be promised to them, a ticking time bomb was working against me now.

Sunday, I focused all my efforts on looking for answers about Igor’s plans without involving Irina. She couldn’t be the only source of intel.

I followed the one burly guard, Peter. I hung out near a few Ilyins at a bar off campus. I listened in on a couple of Petrov soldiers who seemed to be waiting for a man in a suit to meet them near the dean’s office.

By the time night fell, I had learned a whole bunch of nothing. Frustrated and worrying that I was putting myself up to an impossible challenge, I slept restlessly and woke up annoyed at the world. After starting my morning with Irina next to me, naked and warm and inviting, I didn’t want to start my days any other way.

I got coffee and walked through the snowless but frigid weather toward the lecture hall. At least I’d be able to see her there and not have to settle for sexting like she had yesterday.

I reached the double doors to the building, frowning when Rurik pushed off the wall he’d been standing at. He approached me quickly, his brow furrowed and eyes serious.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. There was no point askingifsomething was wrong.

“Everyone knows.” He fell into step with me, entering the building.

Heat blasted at my face from the overhead furnace, almost burning my eyes. “Everyone knows what?”

“About you and Irina.” He looked around, ever cautious that someone could be listening. After he tugged his beanie off his head, he pushed his hair back to glance at me. “That you’ve claimed her.”

“Everyone, as in people here at the college? Or…?”

“Everyone inourworld, Vik. What the fuck were you thinking?”

I stopped, glaring at him. “Don’t pretend that you didn’t know I was going to seduce her to get her to open up to me and talk.”

Which… I haven’t actually done yet.

“Yeah. Seduce her. As in tease her and maybe get her off. One night or something. Not take her home. To yourrealhome.”

I frowned, missing too many dots to connect. I had been contemplating talking to him about how I was developing serious feelings for her, but I hadn’t said a single thing. How could he be aware that I hadn’t seduced her but instead fell for her?

“How do you know…” I shook my head, needing to back this up. “Whatdo you know?”

“Everyone’s talking about how you claimed Igor’s only daughter. Everyone in all the Families around here know that you stole the bride Petrov told the Ilyins that they could have.”

“We don’t know that Igor did promise her to anyone. Oleg told me that he was thinking it was a prank or only a rumor.”

He shrugged. “The Ilyins seem to think it was a legitimate arrangement. They’re pissed. I just found out this morning, listening in to a couple of lines I tapped, and I wanted to inform you as soon as possible.”

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