Page 16 of Born into Madness
“I can go with you,” he says, and I quickly cut him off.
“Not a chance in hell.” I swear my cousin looks hurt at being shut down, and I’m not exactly sure what words this situation calls for. I try to follow Mia’s advice and just say what I’mthinking instead of worrying about saying the wrong thing. “It’s more important for you to stay clear of this, Ev. You’ve already gotten your hands bloody for the Bratva, and we both know you will again, but there’s no reason for you to blow your cover for a fucking frat party that this Cupid guy will most likely not be at.”
Ev nods and starts to pull the sleeve of one shirt up before remembering he can’t and dropping his hand. “Maybe this was a mistake,” he admits. “I feel like I’m turning my back on everyone. I mean, fuck, I’m not even a Melnikov anymore.”
“Hey, fuck that.” I rest my hand on his shoulder and give it a hard enough squeeze to get his attention. His eyes are the same blue-green as his mom’s, and I see the same fierce determination in them that’s always been there. He can let loose with the best of them, but there’s always been an intensity to Evgeny, a deep desire to prove himself and leave his mark on this world.
“Youarea Melnikov,” I tell him. “You will always be a Melnikov. I don’t give a fuck what others call you or what your new ID says. None of that matters.” I let his shoulder go, wrapping my hand into a fist before tapping his heart. “In here, Ev, you know who you are. Don’t you ever fucking forget it.”
The corner of his mouth lifts. “I never would’ve pegged you for a motivational speaker.”
“Fuck you,” I say with a laugh. “Now, tell me about college life. What all am I missing?”
Turns out I’m not missing much. Never-ending classwork, pretentious professors, and a sea of stressed-out college kids—fun times for everyone. I keep one eye on our surroundings while Ev tells me about the apartment he’s living in that’s right off campus. We have bodyguards watching him, but they’ve been told to stay back and blend in unless Ev’s life is in danger.
“How’s Yelena doing?” I ask. “It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve seen her.”
He grins at the mention of his pregnant sister. “She’s huge, man, like about to burst at any second. I’ve never seen anyone as nervous as Val. She sneezed the other day, and I thought he was going to have a heart attack.”
I smile at the image. Val and Yel have been in love since we were kids. Raised as cousins but not related by blood, they’d still felt the need to hide their feelings for one another, afraid their parents would have a fit if they found out. I honestly don’t understand how it escaped their notice for as long as it did. It was painfully obvious to me and the others, but you see what you want to see, I guess.
My attention is briefly pulled from my cousin when I spot a redhead walking across the quad. It’s not the girl from last night, though. The color is off, and it’s too straight. Also, this girl is taller and not as curvy. I don’t understand why her hair doesn’t fascinate me like the other woman’s did. I tell myself it’s because this woman’s doesn’t look like a ripened blood orange, doesn’t have the same coppery glint that fresh oxygenated blood has, but I’m not convinced that’s why.
Shoving her from my mind, I put my focus back on Ev when he looks at his watch and starts telling me his next class is about to start.
“Promise you’ll call if you need me,” he says as he grabs the bag that’s overflowing with books. When I don’t say anything, he adds, “I’m serious, Sasha. The Bratva comes first, you know that. I promised my life to the family the same way you did.” He waves a hand at the old historical buildings around us. “This changes nothing.”
He’s right, so I nod and say, “I promise I’ll call you if we need you.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Keep an ear out for Cupid’s name, but don’t dig around.”
He raises a brow at me, and I grin because no one outside our family would ever dare to give me that look.
“I know how to do my job,” he says.
I nudge his shoulder before he takes off down the path to his next class. “I know you do. Call me if you hear anything.”
“Will do,” he says, giving me one last grin before walking off.
I hang back, watching as he seamlessly blends in with a group of students heading in the same direction as him. They smile and laugh, and I watch the way one of the girls is eyeing Ev, but my cousin doesn’t notice her. His mind and focus are on his goals, and once Evgeny puts his mind to something, nothing and no one is going to sidetrack him.
Everything he told me about the Alphas fits in with what Niki found out, but our cousin was able to dig a lot deeper, so he’s making individual files for each of the frat boys. Every fuck-up they’ve ever done, every time their parents have made a donation to the school to get something wiped from their sons’ records—all of it is being documented so we can blackmail them if needed. He’s also already hacked into their shitty security system so he can record everything that happens at their parties. When all is said and done, we’re going to have more than enough to bury these fuckers.
After Ev is out of sight, I make my way back to where I’d parked, and thirty minutes later I’m sitting across from my dad at one of our favorite restaurants. We’ve been having these weekly lunches for years, just the two of us, an easy way for him to check up on me so that it doesn’t feel suffocating. I know he worries. He’s been worrying about me since he discovered that parts of me will never work as they should. I’ll always be grateful he never turned his back on me when he realized the truth of what I am. A lot of dads would have, but mine never did. Instead, I think he made it his life’s mission to love me enough for the both of us. He knew I had a hard time with emotions, so hisbecame so big they not only made up for my shortage but also taught me what unconditional love should look like in a family.
I would be an uncontrollable monster without my dad. With him, I’ve managed to muzzle the rabid part of me that can’t be let off its chain. No wonder I felt such a bond with Chort the first time I saw him. We have a lot in common.
“So, how are things?” My dad asks after we’ve ordered our drinks.
Aside from my lack of piercings, my dad and I look a lot alike. I’m a couple inches taller than him, but we’re both covered in tattoos with the same light-blue eyes. His hair may be more salt-and-pepper now, but it was once as dark as mine, and decades of being an underground fighter gave him a gym habit that keeps him muscled up. I’ve heard enough stories about him to know he once carried around an unusual amount of rage, and I know he enjoyed the fighting, the violence of it, but my dad’s not like me. He might’ve been close when he was younger and in a blind rage, but there was something inside him that never let him cross the line so far that he couldn’t find his way back. I think I came into this world so far past that line that there was no way in hell I’d ever be able to find my way to it. Crossing over into normal was never in the cards for me.
“Things are good, Dad,” I tell him. “I talked with Ev before I came here.”
“He doing okay?”
“Yeah, he’s good.” I grin and add, “He blends in well when he wants to. No one suspects he’s one of us.”
