“Sorry. Are you okay?” she asked, lifting the phone from her mouth. That’s when I saw the necklace around her neck. The platinum Russian rings. My name engraved into the top overlapping one. Marking her as mine.

“Yeah.” I heard his voice through the receiver, his pain-filled eyes eating up the sight of her like it was candy. “It was my own fault. I was too close, trying to read. Is that an important call? It’s just that I have that bio test I need to make up next period, and you promised to help me study.”

“Right, sorry.” She put the phone closer to her mouth, her shoulders drooped in disappointment. “Ryan, I have to go. I’m helping Brent study. I’ll call you back after school, okay?”

Swallowing a curse, I cleared my throat. “Okay, baby. We’ll talk soon.” My eyes were glued to her face. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she murmured softly, her eyes seeming to glow on the screen. “Bye, Ryan.”

“Bye, my heart.”

After the call was disconnected, I continued to watch them on my screen. The light was gone from Nova’s eyes now, her smile forced and not coming close to reaching her eyes when Brent spoke animatedly, his grin so big, it was a wonder his face didn’t split. The phone on my desk rang, but I ignored it, not wanting to be distracted for even a minute in case the bastard tried to touch my angel.

No sooner had the phone shut up than my office door opened, Eduard sticking his head inside. My gaze flickered to him impatiently. “What?”

“Miss Ciana to see you, sir,” he replied without so much as a flinch in the wake of my cold reception.

I returned my eyes to my phone. “Send her in.”

In the two seconds I’d looked away from the screen, Nova had scooted her chair a few inches away from Brent’s. The distance wasn’t something that would have been noticeable to anyone who wasn’t paying as close attention as I was, but seeing it eased my tension ever so slightly. She was pointing to something on the notebook page, her mouth moving slowly, as if she were explaining a concept to someone who struggled to understand simple English.

I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to laugh at the annoyance that filled her green eyes when the guy said something. I could tell she was fighting hard to stay patient, and she started to explain again.

“I take the afternoon off to spend with my favorite cousin, and you’re too entertained by some movie on your phone to even give me a hug?” Ciana dropped down into one of the two chairs in front of my desk, huffing dramatically.

“I’m debating if this fucker should live or not,” I told her honestly, barely looking at her out of the side of my eyes.

She jumped up and came around the desk to watch the live feed over my shoulder. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “When did you plant cameras on Nova? Does she know?”