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“It’s okay. I don’t want anyone getting hurt,” she insists, turning to face me fully. “I’ll go home with Ben, and I’ll see you soon.”
Her reassuring smile does nothing to put me at ease. Her voice is reasoning, trying to convince me to back down. And though it goes against every fiber of my being, I do, relaxing my stance to show I won’t make a scene.
“I better not find you following us,” the pock-faced Zhivoder member warns, his sneer returning with his confidence, and he looks me up and down.
Dani’s smile turns sad, and my hands fist as I think about how I’d kissed her beautiful lips just minutes ago. I’d gotten lost in her magnetic appeal. I shouldn’t have let my guard down. But I let Dani distract me, and now she’s putting her safety on the line to fix my mistake.
“Come on, Dani,” Ben says, shrugging out of his jacket and handing it to her.
As soon as she slings it over her shoulders, he wraps an arm around her, turning her away from me. She casts a last glance over her shoulder at me as he guides her back toward their home, and her eyes are apologetic.
Fuming, I watch them go, allowing them to traipse right through Veles territory because Dani asked me to. The Zhivoder men that leave with the Richelieu siblings take no small amount of glee in the fact that they’re getting away with it too.
I need to tell Pyotr about the men crossing into our territory. He won’t be happy.
7
DANI
Rain patters against the window of the classroom, drawing my eye and reflecting my mood. I can’t stop thinking about Efrem. I hate the way we left things last night, but I could see it on his face. He wouldn’t have stopped fighting unless I found a way to deescalate the situation. And I was terrified those men would hurt him. Or worse.
So when Ben said he would take me home, I jumped on it. It seemed like the only way.
“Digital imaging is an important concept to understand in this day and age,” Professor Dhordi states from the front of the fifty-student room, and I glance in his direction.
I should be paying attention, but I just can’t get last night out of my head. My professor continues on, oblivious to my wandering thoughts.
God, that kiss. I’ve never experienced anything so addictive. It was perfect. Right up until Ben’s friends interrupted.
I chew the inside of my cheek as I think about Ben.
He waspissedon our walk home last night, giving me a lecture about being seen with Efrem and how I shouldn’t be hanging out with the Veles clan at all. Like he has room to talk. There’s no doubt in my mind that his new friends were implying they might assault me before Ben stepped in.
And they seemed serious enough about “putting Efrem in his place”—they pulled a knife on him, for Christ’s sake. I glance down at the slight discoloration around my wrist, running my finger over the tender bruise. The one guy grabbed me hard enough that I don’t doubt he would have been willing to take advantage of me.
No, Ben’s new friends are far worse than the Veles family, in my mind. And what worries me more is Efrem’s first statement when those guys appeared. He said something about them crossing boundaries, which makes me wonder if Ben’s friends might not be involved in something mafia related.
But I’m too scared to ask. Hell, I haven’t even been brave enough to broach the subject with Silvia or Pyotr, and the rumors surrounding the Veles family hold far more stock than one comment from Efrem. But if those guys did cross some territory line belonging to the Veles, then Ben is definitely mixed up in something he shouldn’t be.
“Miss Richelieu?” Professor Dhordi asks, jolting me from my reverie.
“Hmm?” I turn my eyes from the window and realize several people in the class have turned to look at me.
“I asked what post-processing method removes high-frequency noise from an image, and you looked like you needed a good challenge to slake your boredom.”
“Oh, um. Sorry.” My cheeks flame as I realize I got caught letting my mind wander. “Um, smoothing. That’s what removes high-frequency noise.”
Professor Dhordi keeps his eyes fixed on me for several seconds before nodding. “Very good. Now perhaps we can discuss how smoothing is best implemented….”
As soon as my professor returns to his lecture and the attention shifts from me, I sink lower in my seat, mortified for being called out. I’ll have to work harder to push the thoughts of yesterday aside and focus.
But as the day drags on and I’m finally released from my last class, I find I haven’t taken a single page of notes. And I couldn’t say what half of my lectures covered today. Because I don’t like the thought of Ben mixing with a dangerous crowd.
And on top of that, last night solidified in my mind the reality that the Veles family must have some kind of back-room business. Because normal, everyday people don’t go around drawing boundary lines for random strangers.
Stepping from the Arts building into the gloomy drizzle, I glance up at the sky and smile. It might be a dreary day, but this will be perfect lighting for the nature pictures I intend on hunting down outside the city. Digging into my pocket, I pull out my phone to double-check the forecast while I walk.
As I skip down the university steps, I catch movement from the corner of my eye and turn to find Efrem pushing off from the stone half-wall lining the walkway. My heart leaps toward my throat, and I swallow to keep it inside my chest.
