Guarded Rebellion (The Baranov Legacy)

4. Eva

4

EVA

O nce my uncle gave me the permission to go to college, I jumped on it. It had taken me months to get him to say yes. I still wasn’t sure why he had. Why he changed his mind would remain a mystery to me. All that mattered was that he had changed his mind.

I began to prepare for enrolling and registering months ago. I walked through the websites. I contacted the college staff and emailed the registrar and curriculum advisors. Even though I hadn’t received his permission yet, I started the process of acting like I would be a college student in hopes that my effort would be seen as proof that I was determined to do this. That it wasn’t a whimsical fling of an idea. Doing all that legwork well in advance and making all the plans could show Uncle Oleg how serious I was about this, how logical and practical I was about chasing my dreams for a college degree.

I knew I wasn’t like any other twenty-two-year-old. I would be arranged in a marriage. I would be expected to be a Mafia wife. I was unable to escape that fate, but that didn’t have to mean that I couldn’t live at all before it started. Before I would be trapped in a marriage and into motherhood, I could try to live, to experience some semblance of life outside this mansion.

It almost seemed frivolous to get a degree while knowing I couldn’t make a career out of it, but that didn’t matter. I would apply myself. I would work hard. But when I wasn’t, I could just be . I could live like a normal young adult away from this prison of a home.

Freedom was on the menu, and I couldn’t wait for it. I’d only get a taste. A sample of independence was all I could count on, but I’d take it.

“Anything to get me out of here ,” I muttered as I walked from the kitchen to head back upstairs and resume packing. On the way, I passed no fewer than six guards, all of them stiff and unsmiling, nearly glowering at me as I went by.

These… gargoyles had always been present in my life, and even though they seldom ever spoke to me, I felt the burns of their stares. They judged me. I knew they did without any communication having to be shared between us. Their auras, their vibes, their very presence always made me feel uncomfortable. Never family, but sentinels. Never friends, but violent, pissed-off-at-the-world employees.

“No, ma’am.” One stood with his spine ramrod straight as Maria pawed at the lapels of his jacket. “I cannot.”

She didn’t listen, deaf to his rejection as she lowered her hand to cup his dick through his pants. Kissing along his neck, she whined and pouted. “Real quick,” she begged. “Before he’s home.”

“No, ma’am.”

I rolled my eyes, biting into the apple I’d come down for as I climbed the stairs. Even though that specific guard was a new one, young and handsome, he must have been lectured by the senior soldiers in the organization. Giving in to Maria’s seductive act never boded well. The last three men she’d preyed on for a quick fuck had been punished despite her coming on to them .

I can’t wait to get out of here. All the testosterone. The big egos. The toxic masculinity. It was suffocating most days, and I looked forward to being able to breathe, to lower my guard without many soldiers surrounding me and watching my every move.

Whoever my uncle ordered to be my bodyguard would need to be dealt with. I wouldn’t settle for some jerk of a soldier looming over my shoulder.

“But first,” I whispered to myself as I reached my room, “packing.” A wide smile crossed my face as I anticipated being out of here within a few days. I’d deal with ditching my bodyguard when the time came for it.

I wouldn’t be stupid about it either. Born into the Mafia, I had to grow up with and respect the inherent danger I would always have to consider. I hadn’t chosen this family, and I would never be able to shed the stigma and association of being the princess in the Baranov organization. It was what it was. The healthy dose of fear I had been trained with would serve me well, anyway. Self-defense had been taught from an early age. Practice at the shooting range had been a consistent requirement throughout my youth. My father never gave a damn, but it was Uncle Oleg who insisted on making sure I was at least competent in defending myself should the layers of security ever fail. I was an asset, a virginal bride to offer as business one day. My purpose was a cold and loveless one, but it was the reason I had such protection.

I’ll be fine. A college campus would be reasonably safe. It wasn’t as though I were heading into a damn warzone.

Still, as I was finalizing packing the things I wanted to bring to my dorm, I wondered if I was being too careless to leave this place. I hated the claustrophobia of always being watched here, with guards ever-present, but I couldn’t know what it was like outside these walls.

Sonya would. I frowned as I thought again of my sister. I’d never believed her to be dead. Nor my mother. My assumption that they were alive out in the “real” world planted a seed of resentment. I wanted that freedom, too, but what if they’d achieved it at a cost, if they’d been kidnapped instead of just fleeing one night?

No one had heard from Sonya or my mother. After the initial investigation—that occurred so many years ago when I was too young to really understand much of what was happening—my father and uncle ceased to speak about them. Gossip faded. Rumors waned and fell to silence. Years had passed by since their departures, but I never forgot about them. All that time, I’d wondered and speculated. I’d tried to guess and envision what such freedom could feel like. The ability to do what I wanted was the true root of my desire to go to college, and I couldn’t wait for it to start. It was a constant struggle not to hate my mother for not taking me with her, and it was a regular exercise not to begrudge my sister for escaping.

But now I have a chance.

I’d have a little taste of freedom. To get up and retire to bed as I pleased. To walk through campus just to stroll, find little cafés, and eat or drink what I so desired. I could look at my classmates and not have to worry about someone accusing me of making or threatening an alliance. I could befriend ordinary people unaffiliated with criminal leaders or politicians. For the first time ever, I could meet someone as Eva, not Miss Eva Baranov, the only niece of the Boss. Friendships could be formed on my terms. Acquaintances could be found and fostered without the pressure of my father or uncle bearing down on me. My name and background wouldn’t define me, and it was such an intoxicating dream that I spent the remaining days in the mansion with my hopes high and my head in the clouds.

I couldn’t wait.

Finally, the day to move out came, and it did with more drama than I could’ve cared for.

“This is a waste of time,” my father said as I grabbed my purse to head out with the driver. Another SUV was loaded with the things I wanted at my dorm.

“I realize your opinion will remain unchanged,” I told him. But all I care about is what your brother says. “Uncle Oleg gave me permission, though, and that’s what matters.”

He narrowed his eyes, stalking toward me. “If you think this is a chance to sleep around and be a slut, think again.” His pudgy finger jabbed at me as he snarled. “If you want to try to act like your mother and spread your legs for any ordinary man…”

What? He’d never commented about my mother being a slut or sleeping around. I was reeling from this new tidbit of information, but I couldn’t let him see how it affected me.

Is that why she left? Or was she kicked out? What does this mean?

“I am aware of what is expected of me,” I replied instead, bottling in the shock and confusion about his comment that would have to be saved for analysis at another time. Right now, I was out of here.

I turned, not bothering to give him a farewell. If my uncle wasn’t busy in a meeting, I would have graced him with another thank you and a goodbye.

As it was, I simply walked out of the mansion and approached the car. Every inhale felt sweeter, and as I carried myself over the smooth path, I smiled easier.

Sighing, I settled into the backseat and looked out the window. I was officially en route to freedom. This was it.

Finally!

On the drive, I fantasized about what my dorm would look like. Who Kelly Garnet, my assigned dorm roommate, would be. I envisioned unpacking and settling in, acclimating to the new surroundings before finding my classes on campus. To while away the hours of the long drive, I alternated between checking my schedule of classes, studying the campus map, reading my latest thriller, and watching the scenery out the window. I wasn’t bored—far from it. I couldn’t possibly be bored when the first adventure of my life was about to start. Excitement and enthusiasm. That was what filled me.

But as we neared the city where the college campus was located, confusion kicked in.

“Aren’t you going straight to the dorms?” I asked the driver.

He seemed to be driving away from where the college campus was, nearer to the downtown area.

“You have been given alternative housing,” he replied gruffly.

I narrowed my eyes. “What?”

He cleared his throat. “You are expected to reside at an alternative location.”

“I heard you the first time, Rurik,” I snapped, familiar with this man’s name. He was a distant cousin, actually, but since he was a soldier and often out of the mansion, we were strangers more than family. “What does that mean ? Why? Who decided to make this change?”

“Your protector,” he answered, glancing into the mirror to see me. “The lead in charge of your security deemed the dorms too accessible for his liking.”

“Oh, for—” I huffed, glaring out the window. “I thought the guard assigned to me would just have another room on the floor in the dorms.” And that still would have been too close for comfort. I needed some space. For once in my life, I wanted to be free of always being watched.

“He is ordered to oversee your safety, and he will do as he sees fit to ensure you remain unharmed until you return home.”

I scowled, letting his words sink in. Until I returned. Yeah, I knew I would have to. But on the day I could leave that mansion, I wanted to put off thinking about the inevitable return. It would make this taste of freedom feel too limited. Too short.

“And just who has been assigned to lead my security detail?” I crossed my arms, not bothering to look away from the window as he pulled into the underground parking garage for a tall building.

“Someone your uncle trusts.”

I rolled my eyes. Obviously. But that description did soothe me somewhat. At least he wasn’t assigning a green new recruit to be my bodyguard. They always got too flirty, too cocky.

He slowed the car to a stop, and a man approached to open the door.

Cool air seeped in despite the shelter of this underground parking area, and I exhaled a long, exasperated breath as I swung my legs out of the car. I was supposed to be embracing freedom right now, setting foot on the campus and looking up at the old architecture of one of the dormitory structures over a hundred years old.

Not this modern monolith of a building further from campus.

I was supposed to be meeting the eyes of my new roommate and fellow classmate as I was greeted at the dorms.

Not the serious and cold gaze of one of my uncle’s favorite soldiers.

“You?” I spat out with more annoyance than I cared to show.

My reaction to seeing Lev Kvashnin glowering down at me couldn’t be helped.

Of all the men to be in charge of my security, it had to be him ?