Novel-novel oleh Ravenska Jo

The girl pushed herself up off the floor, her face flushed red. Whether from embarrassment or fury was hard to tell, maybe both.Her blond hair, perfect just minutes ago, was messed up on one side now, and the wrist Renata had grabbed was still cradled against her chest, like she could still feel the grip there.Her friends rushed over, helping her up, whispering something Renata couldn't fully catch over the bass filling the room again.But it was clear enough. The girl shot her one more sharp look before turning and walking off, back stiff and straight, refusing to look like she'd lost in front of everyone still watching."This isn't over," she hissed, loud enough for Renata to hear over the music, her voice shaking somewhere between rage and the effort to still sound threatening, before disappearing into the crowd with her friends closing around her like a shield.Renata stood frozen, her heart pounding so hard she could hear it in her own ears, louder than the music.Her hand, the

Tyler was gone in seconds the moment Dominic finished talking, mumbling something about having to go find another friend before bolting from their row.Renata watched his back disappear into the crowd with a mix of annoyance and guilt. None of this was Tyler's fault, but he was the one stuck paying for Dominic's possessive streak that nobody had asked for.As alone as they could get in a packed auditorium, Renata turned on Dominic, jaw tight, barely holding it together."You had no right to do that," she hissed, low enough that only he could hear. "I can talk to whoever the hell I want. You're not my keeper." "You're staying under my roof," Dominic said, calm, way too calm for someone who'd just caused a scene in front of dozens of people. "That gives me a say in who you hang around." "That's not a say, that's a leash." Renata shot up, snatching her bag off the floor. "I'm still going tonight. Deal with it." She didn't wait for a response, walking off down the row toward the exit,

Dominic offered to drive Renata to campus, and Sofia couldn't get over it. Her son never bothered with things like that.But Dominic reassured her with a friendly tone that rang false to Renata's ears."Figured I'd drive her so she's not walking in there alone on her first day," he'd said at breakfast, like it was the most obvious decision in the world.Renata didn't even get a chance to object before Sofia was already beaming, clearly thrilled to finally see the two of them "looking" close.But in reality, they barely talked the whole drive. Renata stared out the window at the campus streets starting to fill up, trying not to think about what happened at the guesthouse yesterday, Dominic's hand trapping her against the wall, his nose trailing along her neck, those low words still echoing in her head no matter how hard she tried to shake them off.The second the car stopped in front of the main gate of Kingsley University, Renata realized just how much attention their arrival was pull

Breakfast ended with an awkwardness hanging in the air, even though no one said it out loud. Sofia was busy checking her schedule on her phone, Richard sipped the last of his coffee while talking about plans for the day, and in the middle of all that light chatter, Renata kept stealing glances at Dominic, trying to read something behind that calm face of his, a face that didn't match at all with the man who'd gone through her bag with so much suspicion the night before.Sofia and Richard left first, caught up in their own things, while Dominic excused himself to his room with a quick excuse about a morning class. Renata headed back to her room alone, her steps still heavy from lack of sleep and a weight she hadn't fully processed yet. The garden looked so beautiful in the morning, dew still evaporating under the sun, and it felt like the complete opposite of the chaos spinning through her head.She had just sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at the suitcase still half hidden und

Renata was still frozen, her eyes locked on the contents of the suitcase lying open on the bed. The stacks of cash felt like something out of a movie, not something real she could actually touch with her own hands. She reached out a finger, hesitant, brushing one of the bundles as if she were afraid it might vanish the moment she touched it, or worse, turn into something far more terrifying.The brown folder was still open beside her. She had already seen enough unfamiliar names, official titles printed on letterheads, a red stamp that looked like it belonged to some high level institution. She didn't understand the details, but she understood enough to know this was not some ordinary document left behind in just anyone's suitcase.Her hands trembled as she closed the folder again, as if shutting it could also shut away the fear starting to creep through her chest.What am I supposed to do?She thought about running straight to the main house, waking Aunt Sofia, showing her everything

The alarm was still blaring when Renata felt a rough hand grab her arm from behind."Quick, this way!" The woman in the black uniform who had greeted her in the VIP room was now pulling her away from the crowd starting to jam up at the main entrance. Her voice was almost swallowed whole by the siren still spinning red across the ceiling."Wait, my suitcase!" Renata grabbed for it before the woman could pull her away in a rush.Renata couldn't think straight. Her head was still full of the man's face, his eyes narrowed with suspicion, his hand holding her shoulder in place, all of it tangled up with the panic of people running in every direction around her.In the middle of the chaos, her eyes caught her black suitcase lying not far from her feet, and without a second thought, she snatched it up.Across the room, in that same chaos, the man was moving fast too, his face tense. One hand grabbed the handle of the nearest case before he moved off in the opposite direction, disappearing be