Savage Surrender (The Baranov Legacy #2)

1. Viktor

1

VIKTOR

T ravelers pushed and shoved. Every which way in the airport, they grumbled and complained, wheeling luggage and carrying bags that seemed stuffed too full for their comfort. Sweaty, red faces showed everywhere in the sea of people crowding New York’s busiest airport, evidence of all the anger from dealing with flight delays and the exertion of wearing winter gear inside the cramped space.

Flying anywhere this close to the holidays sucked, and I wished that I could’ve taken another week before returning to the Baranov Family. Oleg Baranov was a demanding boss, but he wouldn’t have been that mad if I’d stayed in Moscow a while longer.

It wasn’t a matter of pleasing my boss and coming back from a mission on time. It was the need to get back to the expectations I’d had for many years. For two decades, I managed several brothels for Oleg. While the work was good and I’d never have to worry about job security, I hadn’t missed it for the last month I’d been gone.

Dread filled me, not excitement. Having a break to go follow a lead on a cold case was a nice change of pace. When Oleg gave an order, I completed it as efficiently as possible. We all did. All the Baranov soldiers knew better than to disobey his instructions. That was why I was still diligent to go to the brothels and keep everything going smoothly. It wasn’t passion for the job, but instead, what he wanted me to do.

I heaved out a long sigh, unenthusiastic about having to supervise and deal with the same old shit and drama again.

The older man standing next to me in the line to get out of this terminal chuckled dryly. “It’s been an exhausting day, huh?”

I nodded. Small talk wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, but I wasn’t allergic to it like some of my fellow soldiers and brothers in our Mafia Family. I sure as hell didn’t want to pass the time chit-chatting with this dude, though. “Yeah. Sure has,” I replied dryly, putting in the bare minimum effort.

“I’ve got an early day at the office tomorrow.” He shook his head slowly, letting his chin dip toward his chest. “That makes it even worse, knowing that as soon as I get out of here and get home, I’ll need to just get right back up and deal with the rat race and grind.” Glancing at me, he raised his brows. “You know what I mean?”

I nodded again, unable to share details about how I could agree with that, nor was I willing to prolong this conversation.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“What business are you in?” he asked. It wasn’t a nosy question, but I couldn’t answer it.

“Entertainment,” I lied. It was partly true and completely none of his business what I did. That was the issue with small talk—it could lead the way to more details being requested.

I pointed to the side, feigning someone looking for me. With that diversion, I could walk out of the bottle-necked mob of this line and get out of answering anything else.

He wouldn’t want the truth, that I was just getting back from a month of following old leads about when Oleg’s niece, Sonya, disappeared. That tomorrow night, I’d be back to making sure everything went well at the whore houses the law couldn’t know about.

Fuck, I don’t want to deal with it anymore.

It was all just the same, desperate women and pathetic men who had to pay to get laid. Sure, sex sold, literally. And it was good money, money that made the world go round.

But did I have to be the one to run it all? Was this all I’d have to look forward to for the rest of my life?

An hour later, I was in my car and heading through the snow and ice back to the Baranov mansion. Moscow had been wintry too, but somehow, facing it here at home was worse. The brumal winds and blanket of snow seemed to add to the confining sensation of being trapped here.

I could tell him. While it wasn’t going against a rule to speak up about a job assignment, it was frowned upon as a rule of thumb. When a man signed up to serve the Boss, that was no light commitment to shrug off. And since I was a distant Baranov by blood, I couldn’t shirk my familial duties.

New recruits were screwed, stuck taking whatever he tasked them with. But I’d been around. I wasn’t some green, new idiot who needed to be broken into all of this. That was part of the reason Oleg had sent me to Moscow to follow up on the supposed leads. He trusted me, and that was saying something. Not many spoke about Sonya anymore. Most men in the family had forgotten about her, but I recalled her being born and always under the close supervision of her mother, Amelia Baranov.

I’ll see what kind of a mood he’s in when I mention going back to those houses tomorrow. Perhaps he’d pick up on my lack of interest and inquire about it.

Could I ask him for a reassignment? It felt risky, yet not.

How would that look? Just coming back after being gone and making requests and demands? I didn’t want to piss him off, particularly when I would be reporting with no news. Those supposed leads about whatever happened to Sonya ended up being dead ends and nothing more. That wasn’t exactly promising news for the man who’d never forgotten about his sister-in-law or niece.

After I arrived at the grand mansion, I parked out front on the circular drive that had recently been plowed and cleared of snow. A short, hurried walk inside brought me to the foyer. I dipped my chin in a nod of acknowledgment to the guards standing to attention, then let myself in to walk further through the house to seek out the Boss.

He’d be in his office and study suite, but I was delayed getting there. Two people waited outside the double doors, and upon seeing them together, I raised my brows high. My mouth hung open, shocked to see one of the Baranovs’ deadliest killers making out with Eva Baranov, Oleg’s other niece.

“What in the fuck did I miss?” I asked, mostly to myself. The words slipped out of my mouth aloud, though, and even though I spoke quietly, it was enough to prompt them to break apart. Slightly. Lev still held on to her, keeping her within his embrace, almost as if he couldn’t bear to take his arms off her and leave her vulnerable to any threat or danger.

“Hey, Vik,” Lev greeted, smiling quickly as he tucked Eva to his side. “What’s up?”

I blinked. “I could ask you the same thing.” I volleyed my gaze back and forth between them. “What is… this?” Eva and I weren’t close. We never had any reason to be as distant relatives who shared a surname. I wasn’t ever on her security detail since I was delegated to work at the brothels. Still, without knowing everything about the Baranovs’ Mafia princess, I knew something significant had to have happened for Lev to feel confident about kissing her like that, in this house.

Eva smiled and stroked her hand down Lev’s chest. On her finger, a large diamond ring glittered as it caught the light from the chandelier.

“A lot,” Lev answered with a wry laugh. “Since you’ve been in Moscow, a lot has happened. “Eva and I are engaged.”

My jaw hung open even more. “Are you serious? You two? How in the hell did that happen?”

“That’s a story better told with the Boss,” Lev replied.

Eva nodded. “They’ll fill you in.” Then with another kiss, she began to slip out of his hold. “Welcome back.”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks.” I ran my hand through my hair and tried to figure out how in the hell Oleg’s favorite assassin would be with Eva. She would’ve been arranged to marry an ally or something, but Lev? There had to be a story there. “And hey, um, congratulations,” I said, gesturing at the massive ring on her finger. It had to have been from him, because if this was legit and they were together, she wouldn’t cheat on a lethal and seriously dark man like Lev.

“I’ll see you later,” Lev told Eva as she walked away. He smiled at me, patting my back and shaking my hand as he led the way into Oleg’s office. “It’s been a busy few months here.”

I laughed once. “I was only gone for one month.”

“And you’re always busy at the establishments you supervise.”

“Establishments?” I shook my head, grinning. “There’s no need to exaggerate.”

“Viktor. It is good to see you,” Oleg greeted, standing to come welcome me back, cutting off any more talk with Lev.

I shook his hand and accepted his hug, then we moved straight to business. He’d already read through the texts and emails I’d sent him, and the first matter was a little more explanation on my part about why I hadn’t received any answers about Sonya in Moscow.

He wasn’t disappointed, almost seeming resigned like he accepted that Sonya and her mother were gone from the family. It appeared as though he knew there was nothing we could do about that. It wouldn’t prevent him from sending someone to follow supposedly reputable clues and leads, but maybe he only did that out of obligation to never give up on those who were lost.

Instead of moving on to the next topic of business, my expected return to supervising the whore houses, he filled me in on what had happened with Lev and Eva. Lev was assigned as Eva’s bodyguard at the huge university, but drama and danger quickly threatened them. Drugs. Rapes. Attacks. All kinds of bad news. It seemed to have all culminated in Eva being taken as bait for the Ilyins to get to Lev.

Between the Petrov Family and the Ilyin Family, someone was vying to have control over the university.

“Rurik is still on campus,” Lev said. “But since I was injured?—”

“And will soon be marrying Eva,” Oleg interjected with a smile, “you, Viktor, are just the man I need to move into position there at the university campus.”

“Me?” I didn’t point at myself, but I couldn’t mask the shock in my one-word reply. Right when I was secretly hoping for a reassignment to anywhere else than the brothels I’d managed for twenty years.

“Yes. You.” Oleg nodded, matter-of-fact about it as he folded his hands on top of his desk behind which he sat. “Rurik can stay there and keep up the surveillance. But I can’t hold off on following up with the role Irina Petrov plays in this drug war.”

Holding back so I wouldn’t show too much excitement about not having to go right back to the brothels, I nodded. All business. “Yes, sir. I can do that.”

The Boss smiled. “And in order to incorporate you into this project, I think you could very easily fit in on campus.”

Lev faced me. “As a professor.”

“What?” I laughed once, incredulously. He couldn’t be serious. But the sober expression both men wore suggested they meant it. “You want me to…”

“To step in as a temporary professor.” Oleg held his hands out as though to imply why not . “ After all, you do have that degree you never use…”

A degree I’d only obtained through fraud for another case. “That is true.” I volleyed my gaze back and forth between them, trying to come up with something else to say.

“I appreciate your flexibility to investigate that slight lead on Sonya in Moscow,” Oleg said.

“And we’re aware that your place is back at the houses, supervision business as usual,” Lev said, sounding more and more like the Boss’s right-hand man.

“That’s fine, though,” I hurried to add. “I don’t mind leaving the brothels for someone else to supervise for a while. Honestly, it’s been getting old. Wearing on me. The same old, over and over.”

Oleg shrugged. “Then it sounds like this is an ideal situation for you, Professor .”

I smiled, looking forward to this chance to not have to go back to those whorehouses yet. While I had no clue how playing professor would turn out, I was curious to find out.