Page 59 of Hidden Empire
“I’m okay,” I answer, smiling at the question. Ivan is such a sweetheart, his energy is just so nice to be around. “Dmitri filled you in?”
“I get the gist,” he says, sitting down. “Secret marriage offers, Javier, suspicion about someone here having a phone?”
“Yeah, that’s about it,” I reply. “I feel pretty bad for Javi. Armani went a little crazy on him before we figured out that he didn’t know.”
“He’s your brother,” Ivan says, shrugging. “I’m sure Javier understands. He has a little sister too.”
I didn’t know that.
“I’m glad you have that class with me,” I admit, biting the side of my cheek. “I felt like I was losing my head trying to assure them that Javier hadn’t done anything shady towards me at all. He just teaches. You’ve seen it, right?”
“Definitely,” Ivan agrees, not even hesitating. “Javier isn’t looking for a hookup, let alone a wife. He’s very focused on just getting through this semester of classes.”
I breathe out a sigh of relief. At least I have Ivan, who’s seen it too. There’s absolutely no way Javi is secretly trying to marry me.
“I just wish I knew why this was happening,” I admit sadly. “It feels like this is bigger than just some marriage offers, you know?”
The brothers share a look.
“There’s something we should tell you,” Ivan prefaces, giving Dmitri a tight smile, lightly telling him to speak up.
“Yeah?” I ask, wondering if I should start worrying or not.
Dmitri clears his throat. “Our family has a bit of a tradition that we practice when we attend Empire.”
“A dangerous tradition,” Ivan adds in, clearly unwilling to sugarcoat this.
“Oh? How dangerous?”
“It’s complicated,” Dmitri answers. “The Morozovs make most of our money through casinos, some money laundering… and trade.”
Okay, nothing too scary yet.
“Like drug trade?” I ask, curious.
“Occasionally,” Dmitri states vaguely. “But mostly, we focus on getting people things in difficult areas. We provide things they wouldn’t be able to get without us.”
“Difficult areas? Like here?” I ask, wishing they’d just speak plainly. I know I’m new to this world, but I can handle it, really.
“Exactly like here,” Ivan answers. “Dmitri, with the help of me and our members here, leaves campus to meet with our suppliers a few miles out in the sea. A few times each month of the five-month semester, he brings in contraband, and we sell it for money or contracted favors.”
My mouth drops open, betraying my shock. “You leave? H-how is that even possible? You don’t get caught?”
“Our family has been doing this since the academy opened, Jade,” Ivan says lightly. “We have our ways, but that’s beside the point.”
Nervously, my eyes dart between the two men. “Which is?”
“No one else goes in and out,” Dmitri says. “No one who isn’t with me, and we don’t bring in phones. Ever. No phones, no cameras, no recording devices. Anything that could be turned around and used against us, we don’t touch.”
Okay, this is a lot of information at once. I guess I understand the reluctance to blurt everything out all at one time.
“You’re really trusting me with a secret like this?” I ask, hardly able to hold back my surprised smile. Dmitri must seriously want to be with me if he’s telling me something so monumentally damning to him and his family.
I could tell this information to anyone and get him in serious trouble. But I would never, and it seems like he already knows that. Talk about flattery.
“I know you’ll keep it,” he says, dropping a warm kiss on my shoulder.
“I will,” I promise, even if it’s not necessary.