Chapter 16
EVA
“If Mr. Volkov cannot complete the assignments, then maybe he shouldn’t be in my class.”
The professor sits across from Marco and me at his big oak desk. From the way he tilts his nose up to look down on us, you’d think he were the monarch of the entire campus, not a guy who teaches giant undergrad lectures.
The professor has been rude from the start, but I started out polite, doing my best to be friendly. Inside, though, I’m boiling over at how this jerk treats my brother. The brother who has been working his ass off for four years to make a better life for himself despite our circumstances.
But true to Marco’s description, the asshole refuses to budge.
“That isn’t my problem, Miss Volkova. Maybe if he needs his sister to stand up for him, Mr. Volkov isn’t ready to take on life’s responsibilities.”
“Eva—” Marco warns from my other side. He knows that comment has sent my temper skyrocketing.
I brush off the calming hand he’s placed on my arm and shove to my feet, pressing my palms to the professor’s desk.
“No, Professor, you are the problem. Marco does more in a day than you’ve done in the last year. He works two jobs, delivers pizza at night, then goes back and does your stupid, useless homework.”
“Sit down, Miss Volkova,” the professor warns, but I only skewer him with a glare.
“What’s your problem with him?” I demand.
“Is it because he has to work multiple jobs on top of his loans and scholarship? Is it because he’s not one of your favorite little rich kids who waste money pretending to get an education while daddy pays for their cars, your grant money, and the library annex where you Xerox your idiotic handouts? ”
“Sit down, Miss Volkova.” The professor stands. “I won’t listen to any more of this nonsense.”
“I’m not done,” I snap. “Maybe no one has told you this, but those kids don’t need your help and goodwill. This kid does, and he’s trying harder than any of them to make a better life for himself. Is that why you hate him? Does he represent the kind of person you think should—”
“Eva,” Marco hisses desperately, his hand on my arm again, this time with more urgency as the professor pulls himself to his full height, his face red with indignation.
“That is enough.” He slams his palms down onto the desktop, and the reverberations run up my arms. “If you don’t remove yourself from my office, I will call security and have them escort you out. You can see how well your brother does getting that magna cum laude when he fails my class.”
“Is that a threat?” I hiss, my voice dropping to a fair imitation of Evgeny’s frigid menace.
“Eva, come on. Let’s just go. He’s not worth it.” Marco tugs urgently at my arm as the professor picks up his desk phone to call security.
But everyone in the room freezes when a dark figure rises from the shadowed corner where he’s been listening. From the way the professor startles, he must have forgotten about Evgeny. Hell, I’d forgotten about him, sitting silently in the cramped office.
“I’m sure there’s no need to call security.” Evgeny’s voice is a deep purr I feel as much as I hear it as he comes to stand at my elbow. “Miss Volkova was simply advocating for her brother.”
The professor, not exactly short, has to tilt his head to look Evgeny in the eye. He’s trying to be brave in the face of what anyone can see is a clear and present danger, but his nose isn’t as high in the air as it used to be.
Then again, that might have to do with the fact that Evgeny is wearing a suit that even I, with zero style knowledge, can see is exceptionally expensive.
He smells expensive, too, and I realize the deep breath I took the moment I felt his presence at my side, full of his scent, has steadied me.
“All they’re asking is that you give Marco a fair chance, just like the other students in the class.” Evgeny’s voice is entrancing, I would do almost anything to listen to it forever.
“I have given him a chance,” the professor sputters. “I’ve graded him as fairly as everyone else.”
The man is clinging to his story and his pride, even though his tone has changed in the face of Evgeny’s presence.
When Evgeny pins him with a scowl, he recoils, and I can see his pride slipping away.
“I thought perhaps we could do this the simple way, but I see we can’t. You have tenure, yes?”
“Of course I do,” the man scoffs, as if the idea he might not were absurd, though his gaze keeps flicking to Evgeny and away again.
“I would hate for you to lose a position you’ve worked so hard to gain.” Evgeny’s voice is as smooth as silk, but it also has a sharp edge that sends a chill down my spine.
“I c—can’t lose tenure,” he sputters.
“Oh, no?”
Evgeny leans over the desk and begins talking to the other man in a low voice. I can’t hear the words, but the color drains entirely from the professor’s face, his eyes rounding with panic.
Marco’s professor stares with horror at the wolfish smile on Evgeny’s face as Evgeny pulls away, and I wonder what the hell he said.
“I’ll give you a 95 in the class—” The professor can’t get the words out fast enough.
“99,” Evgeny corrects.
“99,” the professor squeaks.
Marco shakes his head. “I don’t want to be given a grade. I just want what I earned fair and square.”
One of Evgeny’s eyebrows arches in a clear message to the professor, who gulps.
“I will. I’ll grade it fairly. Is that okay? Is that enough?”
That last part he says to Evgeny, who shrugs. “We’ll see, I suppose. Eva, Marco, let’s let the man get to work.”
Evgeny shepherds us out, and as the office door shuts behind us, I’m positive I hear the professor hyperventilating.
The three of us are quiet until we’re out of the building and in the summer sunshine and bright chaos of the college campus.
“What did you say to him?” Marco finally asks.
“I am privy to some information your professor might not want to present to the general public. Or the donors to this school,” Evgeny offers.
Marco meets my eyes, and I shake my head, warning him against asking any more questions. I almost expect my brother to ask me what the hell I’m doing with a guy like this. Instead, he grins and looks at Evgeny with something like worship in his eyes.
“So, you’re Eva’s new boss?”
“Something like that.”
“Cool.” Marco flashes me a grin, then asks, “Can I buy you a beer for helping me out?”
For a moment, Evgeny looks like he’s going to refuse. I expected it. But a small smile crosses his face. “Why don’t I buy you one instead?”
Which is how we end up at a high-end bar near campus, a place I know Marco has never been before.
“Your sister tells me you’re a business major,” Evgeny says, settling into one of the chairs.
“I am. My major is management and marketing.”
“Two useful pathways. And from everything your sister has said, you’re an exceptional student.”
Marco beams like someone just handed him the sun, then flashes me a look I can read easily. I like this one. I just roll my eyes.
Honestly, I don’t even know why Evgeny came with me to deal with the asshole professor. He stunned all of us this morning when, instead of ordering Vasya or Dmitri to come with me, he said he’d go himself.
For a month now, Evgeny has allowed me to return home whenever my family needs me, always sending either his second-in-command or Vasya with me to make sure I come back.
Although when he started sending an armed driver, I had the feeling it was more for my protection than fear that I would run. I wasn’t going to, anyway. I didn’t want to anymore.
Each time I returned from dealing with my family, Evgeny took the time to inquire after them and me, as if he knew how draining each session could be. He would listen to me, too, and offer advice, actual good advice, not just platitudes to get me to go away.
I haven’t tested Vasya’s theory that Evgeny would let me go, should I ask. Something is going on between us, but I have no idea what it is besides the incredible sex. To say I’m confused, both by his actions toward me and my growing feelings for him, is an understatement.
And here he is, buying my little brother a drink and giving him encouragement, praise, and life advice.
Marco is glowing from the praise, too. Praise was Mom’s specialty, aside from what I try to give him, it’s been sorely absent without her.
Watching the two of them, hearing Marco laugh for the first time in a while, seeing Evgeny smile in response, I feel it again, that tingling swirl in my chest taking up residence more and more often lately.
I’m beginning to feel things for him that are impossible to ignore or deny. And not just sexual feelings, though the feel of him beside me sends shivers of desire down to my toes and back up to crawl across my scalp.
No, I’m beginning to feel other things. Other emotions I refuse to name. Because if I do, they become real, and if they’re real, I have no idea what to do.
I cannot possibly be falling for a mob boss. A dangerous bratva pakhan, menace wrapped in seething anger, swathed in an effortlessly polished, scarred exterior.
Yet, despite Vasya’s warning, I see more to him than that. And I like what I see. All of it.
Evgeny must feel me staring because his eyes slip to me, and the incredible sea green is warm and bright. The swirling in my chest expands until I feel it tingle in my fingers.
And then he smiles, his hand brushing mine.
Shit.
The word echoes through my head as I lean closer to him, breathe in his scent again, and revel in the power and strength of his body beside mine.
I am falling for him.
What the hell am I going to do?