“I can help with the money,” I offer.
He shook his head. “I’ve got it. Call your brothers. See if they’ll talk to you.”
“Okay.” He nods and turns to walk away. “Aleks?”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you. For what it’s worth, you will make an amazing husband one day,” I said.
A strange smile crosses over his lips. “I hope so.”
Sitting for a while longer, I try to organize my thoughts, wondering if I could approach Ilia first. Finally, too cold to stay longer, I stand up and realize I still have Aleksandr’s sweatshirt. As I pick it up, his phone falls out of the pocket.
“Crap!” I stuff it in my coat, looking around to make sure no one’s watching.
It’s not until I’m almost back to Lucca’s room when his phone cheerfully ‘pings!’ and I curse, pulling it out to silence it. It’s a text with an image. A picture of a man, handsome. Dark, curly hair and olive skin, probably Mediterranean. And naked, with his dick in his hand and a smile.
I miss you, baby. June can’t come soon enough.
“Where were you!?” Lucca comes striding out of his room in his boxer briefs, looking outraged and I try not to laugh.
“I’m sorry, I went out to talk to Aleks.” He’s already pulling off my coat, patting my arms and back like he’s expecting bullet holes, or something.
“You’re freezing,” he says accusingly, pulling me over to the couch.
“No, I’m fine, I promise,” I said, watching him build up the fire. He’s so beautiful, the colorful tattoo of a sea serpent that coils over his back moves as his muscles do, biceps bulging as he adds wood to the fireplace.
“What did he say?” he asks, coming back to sit with me.
Eyeing his gorgeous expanse of bare skin, I ask, “Do you want to put some clothes on first?”
The conceited bastard. He grins knowingly. “Am I distracting you, baby?”
“No!” I scoffed. “A little. Stop gloating!” I call after him as he goes to get dressed.
“What did Aleks say?”
Lucca made me some good, strong coffee and I sipped at it gratefully. “He agrees with us,” I said, enjoying the warmth of the mug in my hands, “he thinks his father is part of whoever’s trying to destroy my family.” Shuddering, I said, “I wonder if his father was the one who tried to kidnap me that night. Would Leonid have forced me to marry him?”
“Maybe that was the original plan,” Lucca says, jaw tight.
“Aleks says he has people he trusts in his family’s Bratva. He’s going to try to get someone to talk and see what they know. He suggested I call my brothers.”
I won’t mention what I discovered on Aleksandr’s phone. That’s no one’s business but his. While some syndicates have shed their irrational hatred of gay members, the Russian Bratvas have not. His father is very likely to kill him - in some horrible way - as a lesson to his people if Aleks is found out. I’ll give him his phone back today with his sweatshirt and a vow to take his secret to the grave.
“This is good,” Lucca says, running his fingers through his hair. “At least he’s on our side. He doesn’t want this union either, then?”
“No, he does not,” I said, maybe a little too emphatically. He looks at me oddly, but doesn’t question me.
“Why don’t I bring breakfast up to you, piccolo bacio?” he offers, kissing my hand.
“You’re spoiling me!” I protest, laughing. “I have to go back to class today.”
“All the more reason to save your strength and have breakfast here,” he counters, and I relax against him gratefully.
Lucca…
After walking Tatiana to her first class, I spot Mateo glaring at me from across the grass commons. He’s looked like shit ever since the Dean’s “disciplinary action.” I’m still not ruling out killing him this summer once I’m off the Academy grounds. The ‘eye for an eye’ law here is too solid and I’m not going to risk getting killed in retaliation and leaving Tatiana alone.
“You have a problem, pezzo di merda, you piece of shit?”
He sneers, turning away and heading into the gym.
He’s been lurking around more, and it’s concerning. Since having his hand cut off, he’d done everything he could to stay on the opposite side of the campus from us. He’s a problem that I’m going to take care of, sooner than later.
Two weeks later…
Mateo’s bizarre behavior starts making sense with a text to Aleksandr’s phone.
I know about you, you sick fuck. I’m going to tell everybody.
Aleks burst into the suite, face pale.
“What is it? Are you okay?” Tatiana hurried over to him, putting a hand on his arm.
Don’t be an asshole, I thought, wanting to punch him, she’s already chosen you.
Wordlessly, he showed her the text. “Oh, no.” She shook her head, “No, no no no no! Not him! How could he have possibly found out?”
“I don’t know,” he said, voice tight with dread, “but I have to stop him.”
“We’ll help,” I said instantly. I still don’t like their friendship, but he’s accepted my relationship with Tati and I owe him. “What does he think he knows?”
They exchange a long look. “You can tell him. Lucca is trustworthy.”
Aleks pushes his hair back with a shaking hand. “I’m gay. I don’t know how he could have found out, I’ve been so careful, I- Fuck!” he shouted.
“Okay?” I shrug until I realize who I’m talking to. The next in line for the throne as Pakhan cannot be gay. “That fucker. We’ll figure this out. Let me get you a drink. You need it.”
Tatiana’s already pulling out her laptop. “He obviously has a way to communicate illegally with somebody.”
“Don’t be judgmental,” I said, “so do we.”
Ignoring me, she does something complicated that involves moving in and out of multiple tabs on her computer. “I miss my triple monitors…” she murmured. “Given the likelihood that he bought the phone off Mark Tanner,” she says, “I’m going to track backward from his WIFI splitter and see…”
Watching her work is fascinating, her slender fingers flying over the keyboard, following strings of code. Heaving a sigh, she looks up at us. “It’s going to take a while. It would be faster if you text him, telling him you’ll pay him. Do not specify about what! We don’t need any admissions, all right?”
“I’m just going to fucking kill him,” Aleks said.
“Not at school,” I said automatically. “If you get caught, they’ll execute you. Let’s find out exactly what he knows first.”
He laced his fingers over his head, walking to the window. “I don’t fucking believe this.” I hand him a bottle of beer and he drains half of it in a gulp.
“Looks like we’re going to need something stronger,” I said, heading back to my bar cart.
Aleks sends the message to Mateo, and we pace, waiting for an answer while Tati continues to untangle all the cell signals. “We just need a ping…” she murmurs, “Once I have the signal I can de-encrypt it.”
It takes an hour before that asshole texts back. “You know he’s been staring at the text, gloating,” Aleks mutters bitterly, showing us the text.
You perverted fuck. What makes you think you have enough money? Sending the pictures to daddy will be worth so much more.
“I’m going to kill him,” Aleks says, striding toward the door.
“Hey, hey, hold up!” I step in front of him. “He’s not telling anyone right now; he’s having too much fun torturing you. Let Tati work.”
“Um… the picture I saw,” she ventures, “your boyfriend looks Mediterranean?”
“Yes,” he finished his glass of vodka and I silently refill it.
“Where does he live?”
Aleks groans. “In London, but Augustu’s family is in Sardinia. The island next to Sicily.”