3. COLLATERAL DAMAGE

LUCIAN'S POV

The club was loud, packed with people who thought they belonged there because they could afford the cover charge. I owned every square foot of it, yet most nights it bored me senseless. Tonight was different. Tonight there was a girl sitting alone at the bar, nursing a drink she clearly hated, looking completely out of place in the best way possible.

I couldn't stop staring at her.

She had this look about her, like she'd rather be anywhere else, and something about that pulled me in harder than any girl who'd ever walked through my doors trying too hard to get my attention. She wasn't trying at all. That was the point.

I crossed the floor before I even decided to move, dropping onto the stool beside her like I had every right to be there. Because I did. I owned the damn building.

"You look lonely," I said.

She turned, and fuck, up close she was even more beautiful. Soft features, wide eyes that held something guarded behind them, lips that I already knew I wanted on mine before the night ended.

We talked. She was funny without trying to be, sharp in a way most people in this city weren't anymore, too busy pretending to be interesting instead of actually being it. I ordered her a better drink, watched her laugh at something I said, and felt that familiar pull low in my gut that told me exactly where this night was headed.

I never got her name. Didn't care to ask. Names complicated things, and I had exactly zero interest in complications.

When I kissed her, she kissed me back like she meant it, and I led her straight up to my VIP room before either of us could think twice about it.

I'd only landed back in the country the night before, flying straight from Paris after two months of doing exactly what I wanted, consequences be damned. My father told me not to go. Told me if I stepped foot on that plane there'd be hell to pay when I got back. I didn't give a shit then, and I didn't give a shit now, sitting in my own club with a stranger's mouth against mine, her hands pulling at my shirt like she couldn't get close enough.

I'd left the company in my secretary's hands for the two months I was gone, figured she could handle the basics until I got back. My father could complain all he wanted. I was twenty eight years old, not some kid who needed permission to leave the country.

I had her hoodie off, my mouth trailing down her neck, her soft moans driving me absolutely out of my mind, when my phone started buzzing against the nightstand.

I ignored it the first time. The second time I nearly threw the damn thing across the room. By the third time, some instinct in my gut told me I needed to answer it.

"What?" I snapped into the phone, not bothering to hide my irritation.

"Where the hell are you?" Damien's voice came through, my younger brother sounding far too amused for whatever this was about.

"Busy. This better be important." 

"Oh, it's important." I could hear the grin in his voice, which immediately put me on edge. "Dad secured you a job. Congratulations, big brother. You're officially a professor."

I sat up straighter, the girl beneath me blinking up at me in confusion. "The fuck are you talking about?"

"Physics professor. At his university. Starts tomorrow morning, I'm told." Damien laughed, actually laughed, the bastard. "Said it's your welcome home gift for disobeying him."

My stomach dropped straight through the floor. "He can't do that."

"Pretty sure he just did."

I hung up without another word, my mind already racing through every possible way this could be a joke, some elaborate prank my father cooked up to scare me straight. It wasn't a joke. I knew my father well enough to know he didn't bluff.

I looked down at the girl still lying beneath me, lips swollen, chest rising and falling, looking at me like she had no idea what had just happened. I didn't even know her name, and now I was leaving her half naked in my own club because my father had decided to ruin my entire life with one phone call.

"I have to go," I said, already reaching for my coat.

I saw the disappointment flash across her face before I turned away, and something in my chest twisted at the sight of it, which pissed me off even more. I didn't have time to care about a stranger's feelings right now. I had bigger problems.

I drove straight to the family estate, breaking every speed limit on the way, my hands tight on the wheel the entire time. By the time I pulled into the driveway, my jaw was clenched so hard it ached.

I barged through the front doors without bothering to knock, finding my father exactly where I expected him to be, sitting in his study with a glass of scotch like he didn't have a single care in the world.

"You can't do this!" I said, my voice echoing off the walls.

He took a slow sip of his drink, completely unbothered by my outburst. "I already have."

"This is insane. I have a company to run."

"Had," he corrected, setting the glass down with a soft clink that somehow sounded louder than my own shouting. "I've blocked your credit cards. Fired you from the company. You'll spend the next year teaching physics at my university as punishment for flying off to Paris after I explicitly told you not to."

Is it a crime to go see my own mother? I thought bitterly, the words burning in my throat but refusing to come out. He'd never understood that, never once asked why Paris mattered so much to me, just assumed I was running off being reckless like always.

"What about my company?" I asked instead, forcing my voice to stay level.

"Your uncle will handle it until you've learned your lesson."

Before I could respond, footsteps echoed down the staircase. Damien appeared first, still grinning like this whole situation was the funniest thing he'd witnessed all year. Silas followed close behind, and trailing just behind them, headphones clamped over her ears, was Alicia.

Why the hell am I always the one who gets punished hardest? I thought, watching my siblings gather like they were about to witness a show.

"Dad, can I move into the campus dorm?" Silas asked, completely oblivious to the tension suffocating the room. "I get bored being in this house all the time."

"All of you are driving me insane," my father said, his voice calm in that infuriating way that somehow felt worse than shouting. "It's fine that you refuse to settle down and give me a grandchild, Lucian, but when exactly do you plan on acting like a responsible adult?" He didn't even wait for an answer before continuing. "Then there's Damien, who couldn't care less about anything if he tried. Silas, reckless as always. And your little sister."

He glanced toward Alicia, and something in his expression shifted, like he immediately regretted whatever he'd been about to say.

"It's not my fault," Alicia said quietly, her fingers tightening around her headphones, tears already welling in her eyes.

"Darling, I didn't mean-" my father started, but she was already turning, rushing back up the stairs before he could finish.

I stood there for a second, chest tight with anger I couldn't fully explain, then turned and walked straight out the front door without another word. I wasn't sticking around for whatever came next.

The next morning, I stood in front of a lecture hall full of students who looked far too young and far too unbothered by the fact that I clearly didn't want to be there. I wrote my name across the whiteboard, each letter feeling like another nail in the coffin of the life my father had just demolished.

Professor Lucian Cross. What a joke.

I turned to face the room, already dreading the next year of my life, when my eyes landed on a face as the door open that stopped me cold.

It was her. The girl from last night, standing there in a hoodie, staring at me like she'd seen a ghost.

Fuck.

Of all the students at this entire university, of course she ended up in my class. I kept my expression neutral, forced my voice to stay professional as I launched into the syllabus, but my mind was already spinning through every single way this could destroy whatever was left of my life.

I didn't even know her name, and now I was supposed to stand in front of her twice a week pretending I hadn't had my mouth all over her less than twenty four hours ago.

My father wanted to punish me. He had no idea just how complicated this punishment was about to become.

I made it through the rest of the lecture on autopilot, my mouth running through syllabus details while my brain stayed locked on the back row. I didn't look at her again. Couldn't afford to.

By the time I made it off campus, I needed a drink and someone who wasn't about to lecture me for the hundredth time in twenty four hours. Ethan was already waiting at our usual table when I walked in, two glasses poured before I even sat down.

"You look like shit," he said, sliding one toward me.

"Feels about right." I dropped into the chair across from him and told him everything. Paris. My father blocking my cards. Getting fired from my own company and handed over to my uncle like a problem to be managed. The physics position, the punishment dressed up as a job.

Ethan listened for about ten seconds before his phone buzzed and he started typing a reply, barely glancing up. "Mm hmm. Rough."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Every word," he said, not looking up. "Your dad's a dick, you're a professor now, tragic stuff."

I almost didn't ask him. Almost let it go, finished my drink, and went home to pretend last night never happened. But it had been sitting in my chest all day, heavy and impossible to ignore.

"What happens if I kissed a student," I said.

That got his attention. He set his phone down slowly, a grin spreading across his face like he'd just won something. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me."

"Lucian Cross," he said, drawing my name out like he was savoring it. "Mister I don't do attachments, Mister I own half the bars in this city, just told me he kissed a student."

"I didn't know she was a student when it happened."

"Oh, that makes it so much better." He laughed, actually laughed, leaning back in his chair like this was the best thing he'd heard all year. "Does Daddy know his golden boy is out here committing career suicide on day one?"

"Shut up."

"I'm just saying, you've got one job. Teach physics, keep your head down, wait out the year. And you're already thinking about kissing her again, aren't you?"

I didn't answer, which was answer enough. Ethan's grin only widened, and I already knew I was never going to hear the end of this.