Page 62 of Shielded Secrets

Guilt crept in that I hadn’t been more alert. Already, I was lowering my guard too much. I was slacking. Slipping. I had let myself assume that I could have the privilege of enjoying my time with her and that no danger could reach her when I was right next to her, but that was an illusion that I would never let get the better of me again.

I had to stay on guard and alert, now more than ever. Counting on having Baranov men nearby would go a long way in seeing to her safety, but beingherewasn’t smart.

Someone had something against her, and it wasn’t a simple little issue that could be swept under the rug. Something was going on, and I had to wonder whether she was being open with me about whatever secret she still wanted to keep.

Now that we were married, now that we were excited about the future, it was more imperative than ever that I finally shed this suspicion that she was hiding something from me. Her nervousness faded since she’d pulled off that one time of spying that resulted in nothing. Her skittishness had receded in the aftermath of that security guard springing on us in the basement and my act of killing him to get away.

In the blur of activity that followed that kill, the drugs being planted in her locker, the attention on Kelly from the cops, and now this ambush and capture, it was my mistake to lose sight of the possibility that she might have been hiding something from me.

As soon as I found her, and as soon as she was safe again, I would have to ask. Because the closer I came to the buildingwhere too many bigger secrets were discussed and where deals were arranged, not to mention where so many individuals were killed, the more my suspicions mounted and escalated into a heavy pressure weighing me down.

No more time to keep secrets, wife.

No more hiding from me.

I respected that she’d managed with an isolated sense of survival since her childhood, but now that she had me, she had to let me in and help.

27

KELLY

The man who snatched me off the sidewalk was the man who followed me that one night. It felt like so long ago when he’d stuck with me as I walked home to my apartment. When he pulled up behind the administrative building I thought I would never have to see again after this week, he dropped me to the pavement.

Pain shot up my arms from where I’d put my hands out to break my fall. Tumbling and rolling, I tucked into a ball the best I could. Then once I stopped, I tried to slide into a jump and spring away.

He was faster, catching me again and hauling me in with an arm around my waist. While he wasn’t as tall or built with muscles as Rurik or any of the Baranov soldiers, he was still taller than me. I’d never cursed my lack of height as much as I did now, overpowered by even this asshole.

“Let me go!”

He raised his arm to strike me, but I deflected his hand at the last second. The slight struggle didn’t get me a chance to escape,though. Kicking and flailing, I resisted his dragging me into the same rear door to the basement access where another jerk had tried to cause trouble with me.

“Shut the fuck up, you Baranov bitch.”

My blood turned cold at his words. So word had spread. Everyone knew I was a married woman now, not a single person, defenseless on her own.

His insult didn’t stop me from trying vainly to get away. I had to. I couldn’t be killed or captured or transported. I’d spent far too much time away from Rurik to miss him ever again. I wasjustlooking forward to starting a family with him, not wanting to waste a single moment.

He moved me into the familiar hallways that led to the dean’s office. Since it was so late, though, probably similar to the time when he’d followed me that night Rurik was supposed to have been here recording a meeting, I wondered if that was what I was being taken to, another meeting with these people the Mafia families were either trying to court or spy on.

He’ll find me. He has to. There is a whole crew nearby. Rurik will find me and he’ll bring friends to help.

I stuck with that mantra of hope and optimism as this thug shoved me into the assistant dean’s office. Jessica Nolan occupied this space, but that bombshell of a redhead wasn’t here. Two other men were.

“Fuck you,” I greeted Jerome Parson.

He wound back his arm to punch me, stepping forward. I flinched as he approached, bracing for the hit as his buddy held me back. At the last second, he feigned and stopped theintention to hit me, laughing maniacally like it was some strange fun to threaten me with violence.

Nothing had changed. It was the same cruel kind of crap he’d pulled years ago. He’d lost weight, and the gaunt appearance made him look haggard, but no less evil. Stringy hair hung over his ugly face, but his smile was so smarmy and sleazy I was sure he thought he could always get his way and be scot-free of punishment.

“And fuck you, little whore,” he replied.

“This is the woman who’s going to bring the Baranovs to heel?” the other man in the room asked. He was suited and had an air of dignified manners, so it was clear he wasn’t in the same socio-economic circles as these two druggie thugs.

“Yes, Benson. I told you.” Jerome rolled his eyes. “She’ll help us.”

“I won’t do anything for you,” I snarled.

“Oh, so you want me to tell the world what you did to Officer O’Malley?” Jerome taunted, pretending to inspect his cuticles.

---