LOGINArriving at campus.“Will you be all right?” Gabriel asked as he walked me all the way to the front of the faculty building.He had to immediately attend a meeting with the dean regarding something he had deliberately arranged so he could “coincidentally” be on campus today.“I will be fine. Do not worry too much.”“Always,” he murmured, placing a quick kiss on my forehead before turning away with steps that still looked cautious.Marcus had already arranged for someone from his security team to guard the campus area, but it did not completely ease my anxiety. The walk to class that morning went smoothly. But at every corner, I felt like someone was watching.David called out to me in the hallway after the first class.“Sera. Hey, wait a second,” he called, catching up to me with a smile that was usually warm, but today felt slightly stiff.“David, what is it?” I asked, not slowing down, wanting to reach the library quickly to work on a report.“I need to talk. It is important, about
The next day.I chose to go to campus with Gabriel. Marcus was already waiting in the black SUV they usually used. He nodded at me, his usually relaxed face looking more alert. Gabriel must have told him about the Selly incident.“Everything all right?” Marcus asked as we approached, his sharp eyes scanning the underground apartment parking area.“It should be,” I replied, trying to smile.Gabriel simply patted Marcus’s shoulder, a silent signal that meant “stay alert.”We walked toward the car. Our footsteps echoed in the quiet concrete space. I was almost at the passenger door when my attention caught a silhouette leaning casually against a silver sports sedan parked a few slots away.Selly.She stood there as if she were simply enjoying the morning. But her position was strategic, right on the path we had to take to leave. She wore a white suit that was far too perfect for casually standing in a parking area, her thin smile already prepared like a weapon.“Unbelievable,” I muttered
I close my eyes tighter, trying to drown the incessant ringing sound into the darkness behind my eyelids.Punishment.The ringing stops again. The brief silence feels more suffocating than the sound itself, followed by the vibration of message notifications. One, two, three times.I do not move. My body is stiff, every muscle tensed to resist the urge to look. But finally, my eyes open on their own. With a slow movement, as if fighting gravity, my hand creeps toward the phone on the bedside table. The screen lights up, displaying several new lines of messages from him.Gabriel: Your time is up, Sera.Gabriel: I'm on my way.Gabriel: Don't you dare leave the apartment.My heart stops for a moment before then beating wildly, pumping adrenaline through all my veins. On his way? But he said he had business out of town! Or... was that just an excuse? Or was his business canceled because of my not answering the phone? My mind spins wildly.I jump out of bed, pacing back and forth in the roo
I stepped forward, just one step. Now we were standing so close that I could clearly see the impatient glint in her eyes, smell the scent of her expensive and cold perfume, and catch the subtle change in her jaw as it tightened.I did not lower my head and instead looked straight into her eyes.“One thing, I am not leaving just because you showed up again.”Selly did not answer right away. I could clearly see that it annoyed her. I recognized that expression, I had seen it before.“I am not telling you to leave,” she said coldly.“But you are trying to make me doubt, which is the same thing,” I replied.She laughed softly, low, almost mocking. “You are still the same. Still do not know your place.”“My place is here,” I answered.Selly straightened her back, clearly not liking my confidence.“Are you really sure about what you said?” she asked.“Yes.”“Too sure for someone who has not even been announced,” she replied sharply.“I do not need an announcement to know what I chose,” I sa
A week had passed since the night Gabriel said, “The time will come.”Since then, I tried to live my days as usual. Classes, assignments, campus exhaustion, everything went normally. Today I came home earlier from campus. My head was slightly dizzy after long classes and endless discussions. I just wanted a warm shower, to lie down, and maybe wait for Gabriel to come home.But everything changed when I entered the apartment parking area. There, a few meters from the entrance, was a car that immediately slowed my steps. A luxurious black car, still shining the same way, with a license plate I still remembered. A very familiar car, Selly’s car.“Why is that car here?”I tried to think rationally. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it only looked similar. Maybe not. No, it was her car, I knew it, I remembered it. My hand automatically brushed the ring on my finger. I took a deep breath and decided to go up anyway. There was no point drawing conclusions before knowing the truth.The elevat
A light knock sounded at the dining room door. I instinctively lifted my face, while Gabriel remained calm, as if he already knew who it was even before the door opened.Marcus entered in a neat dark suit, his expression almost never changing. His face was cold, his eyes sharp, and his movements always measured. If Gabriel was the center of command, then Marcus was the shadow that stayed one step behind him, calm, loyal, and lethal if necessary.Marcus’s gaze immediately swept across the room. The dining table, the nearly empty plates, our seating positions. For a moment, very briefly, his eyes stopped on me before shifting to my left hand, to the diamond ring.“Just for a moment,” Marcus said flatly, looking at Gabriel.Gabriel nodded slightly. “What is it?”“You are scheduled for a meeting with overseas investors after this. They arrived earlier than planned.”Gabriel glanced at the watch on his wrist. “Ten minutes?”“More or less.”“All right. I’ll go to the bathroom for a moment,”







