Nothing.
“Tell me.”
He shrugged. End of discussion.
Fine. “I need to talk to you about logistics. Now that we’ve sorted out my clothing selection—”
“It’s not sorted. That was merely to get you through the day. An extensive new wardrobe will be provided for you.”
When he said things like that, I wished I was more interested in fashion. And, well, money.
“Am I going to get a phone? I need to call my professors.”
“I’ve e-mailed all of them, explaining that you had a family emergency and must travel. Duration unknown.”
“You wouldn’t!”
He raised his black brows. Wouldn’t I?
He’d basically unenrolled me. Even though I’d already planned to arrange for incompletes, this high-handedness rankled.
“You’ve always been responsible with your department,” he pointed out. “It would be unusual for you to disappear without a word.”
“They won’t buy it.”
“They will when the e-mail came from your address.”
“That’s what you were doing while I was in the bath! I heard you come in earlier last night.”
No denial.
So he’d been at my computer, steering my entire life, when he’d heard my whimper, deciding to check that out as well? Did he have no boundaries?
God, so much had happened since then. It felt like weeks ago that I’d been at that bar with my friends, probably because my life had changed more drastically in twenty-four hours than it had in the last six years—since my dad had died and I’d realized how short and precious life was. Since I’d started my quest.
My nervousness about this entire situation returned full-force. “Okay, what about my living arrangement? Where will I stay? And how long are we looking at?”
Sevastyan cast me a puzzled glance. “You will live with Kovalev at his home. Once it’s safer, you’ll come and go as you please.”
“I’m supposed to live with someone I don’t know?” I hadn’t even had an opportunity to Google Kovalev.
“It’s not as if you’ll step on each other’s toes there,” Sevastyan said. “You’ll stay encamped at his estate until the threat has been eliminated. Unless you decide to make your home there once the danger passes.”
Voluntarily reside with a stranger? At the dingy Soviet compound? “But how long will it take for the danger to pass? A couple of weeks? A couple of months?”
“This is your life for the foreseeable future.”
My lips parted. My fall vacay had just gotten extended—all because of a father I’d never met. “Tell me what Kovalev’s really like.”
One corner of Sevastyan’s lips might’ve lifted. “He’s nothing like you’re expecting him to be.” A little thawing from the Siberian?
“You genuinely like him. It’s more than just, um, organizational loyalty.”
He nodded. “Kovalev’s the best man I’ve ever known. I respect him more than anyone.”
“How did you meet him?”
“In St. Petersburg. By chance,” Sevastyan said, with a twist of his thumb ring.