LOGINChapter 17
Daniella's POV
As soon as I got home, my phone rang. I looked to see that it was Rayne. It was as if she had known about the day I just had. Every time I remembered what happened, I felt my chest tighten. The sound of their-
Before my mind could run further I picked the call up. “You called early," I teased.
There was a clicking sound on the other end, her tongue and I could imagine her rolling her eyes. “Oh come on, you knew I would" she teased. “So tell me, how did it go? Did he respond well?"
Disappointment hung in the air and I could sense she felt it. "He doesn't know yet”
"What?!” She exclaimed, voice rising a notch higher. "How doesn't he know yet?”
I let myself fall on the bed and then closed my eyes. The story was strange, I didn't even know how to begin. "It wasn't so easy to even begin. You've got to let me explain fully" i paused before continuing, “No interruption"
She made a sound in her throat, “Alright, I'm listening. All ears" and then she fell silent.
“Well…" I began to explain everything to her, from arriving to school and then finding out what I found in his office. Despite my better judgement I found myself telling her about the kiss I thought they shared.
When I finished, the other side was silent. The only sound I heard was that of her breathing. I opened my mouth to talk again but she spoke before I did. "So you're telling me the professor and Freya kissed? You're sure?”
I sighed, "I'm not so sure, all I heard was the sound. You know it sounds”
She was silent for a while before speaking again, "I understand that it probably hurt but it doesn't matter anymore, you have to tell him no matter what” Rayne's voice was firm and encouraging. I wanted to hate it but I didn't.
"I'll try again tomorrow”
The next day came by pretty fast. It was soon morning and despite my best attempts to get there early enough, I made it a few minutes late. The very people I had been avoiding were standing not far from the door.
As soon as I walked in, Gareth and Freya both turned to me. Gareth had been leaning over her, whispering something into her eyes. It surprised me how close they still were, especially with everything happening with Professor Kent.
“There she is" a small voice whispered, not Freya's.
Her minions all turned to look at me and slowly, the whole school joined them. My head remained low as I tried to make my way to my locker.
“Did you notice she's -"
Gareth's loud voice broke through the statement, “Do you think she's done fucking around? It seems she's adding her weight again" his eyes ran over my body and I felt a thrill of shock and embarrassment run through me.
Freya's response was fast, “Maybe she's fucking someone new"
Suddenly, they were both in front of me. Freya's eyes ran over me, disgust clear in them. She rolled them, "So tell us, didn't you hear of my engagement?”
My brows furrowed together in confusion, "I did?” I wasn't sure what the purpose of the question was.
Gareth smirked from behind her, a triumphant look on his face. "Of course she would know. She's always keeping up on our lives. She wants badly to be us”
Despite the urge to say it had been him who told me, I kept shut.
"And you didn't think you would come find me and congratulate me?” Freya asked.
One of her minions spoke up quickly before I could, "There's no way she would. She's jealous because she's always wanted professor Kent but he'd never choose her” she looked at Freya then, "She's sad because of that”
Freya pushed me back slightly, not hard enough to fall on my feet but enough that the whole school burst into laughter. Wide eyes and sparkling teeth as their fingers pointed.
My hands held tightly onto the straps of my bag, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me. The embarrassment was overwhelming. The laughter didn't stop and neither did the words. I simply stood there, unable to do anything.
It wasn't until the bell rang that people dispersed. Freya and Gareth were the last to leave until Gareth took her arm, “We can't miss class for the girl. Once we're done with classes, we'll deal with her during lunch" and then they are gone.
My classes went by as smoothly as they could. Thankfully, I didn't have Professor Kent's class until after lunch. I decided I would go see him before the second set of classes began. My mind had already begun to draw the image of the scene that would unfold.
He would be shocked, probably unable to say anything.
Then he would reject me. I pushed the thought away before stepping out of the class. There was one place in mind as I strode directly to his office. Just as I turned the corner, I found them both standing in the middle of the hallway.
Before they could spot me, I pushed back and glanced over the wall.
Freya and Kent were standing close to each other. Freya had her hands in his and he was looking down at her. I was too far to read the look in his eyes clearly but their words were clear.
Freya spoke first, “I'm glad you came to find me for lunch this time" her voice was nauseatingly small, fake and obvious. A part of me wondered how Kent liked it. Maybe he wasn't all I thought.
His voice was lower, almost as if he didn't want anyone else to hear. “I needed to tell you something. It was an emergency, it couldn't wait"
“You can always tell me but I need to tell you something first." She leaned up and whispered it in his ears. When she stood back down, she spoke louder, “We need to go on a date soon. After all, you aren't paying me too much attention, don't you think you owe me this?"
From where I stood, I couldn't read Kent's body language except his next words were loud and clear. “Of course we're going on a date very soon. We have to get to know each other but first of all-"
Freya leaned up, dropped a kiss on his lips before turning around and skipping away. My eyes widened before quickly backing into the wall and keeping out of sight.
My world spun as I walked back to my locker after what I had seen. I couldn't believe it. She had just pecked him on his lips like it was nothing and he hadn't reacted. He had acted like it usually happened.
I hated how hard my heart pounded against my chest. It shouldn't have affected me at all. This was supposed to be me telling me about the baby, not seeing his love life. Another day had gone by and I hadn't been able to tell him.
.Chapter SIXTY FiveDaniella’s PovMarcus’s words ring in my head all night: As soon as she’ll let me put a ring on her finger.My hand drifts to the silver jade bracelet on my wrist. I am ready. I don't want a stage, I don't want cameras flashing red dots, and I don't want high-society wives whispering over champagne flutes. I want quiet, private, and real.Next morning, Kent acts weird. He checks his phone twice while making coffee. He taps his screen with a tight, focused thumb, then slips it into his pocket fast when I walk into the kitchen.Old instincts twitch. Is Robert pulling another supply line? Did Dean Holloway reopen the review?I catch myself. I am not living in paranoia mode anymore. I lean against the fridge, sipping black coffee, and watch him zip a small leather folio bag."You're acting like a spy trading secrets in a alley, Vance," I tease, raising an eyebrow.Kent pauses, turning around with a slow, faint smirk touching his mouth. "Just organizing workflow. Put y
Chapter Sixty FourKent’s PovWalking through the brick archways of campus feels like walking through a minefield where half the mines already blew up.Daniella’s phone notification cleared her name, restoring her scholarship and good standing like a clean slate. My name at the bottom of the dean's footer? Still locked in limbo. Formal department review. Corporate compliance shadow trailing my syllabus like a ghost.I pull open the heavy double doors of the economics department hall. Daniella walks beside me, carrying a fresh leather notebook, looking sharp and clear-eyed.Dean Holloway intercepts us by the faculty mailboxes. Her expression is granite-tight—not hostile, just heavy with institutional gravity."Dr. Vance," Holloway says, looking between us. "Miss Vance is cleared of the extortion conspiracy trace. Her roster stands." She turns her sharp gaze to me. "The board review regarding your faculty standing remains active. We cannot have a direct instructor-student dynamic in upp
Chapter Sixty ThreeDaniella’s PovTears blur my vision, warm and clean, as Kent pulls me up from the porch boards and into a tight, hard embrace that feels like safety carved out of stone."I believe you," I whisper against his shoulder, my voice cracking with honesty. "I don't doubt your heart, Kent. Not anymore."We sit back down on the weathered porch bench, the ocean roaring low in the dark. My fingers touch the silver chain and white jade resting on my wrist. I look up at him, moonlight cutting silver across his sharp jaw."How we started still messes with my head sometimes," I admit quietly, staring at the grain of the wood. "A setup office, a blackmailer in the dark, a cold professor who didn't want messy feelings, and a baby making choices for us before we even knew how to talk."Kent covers my hand with his big, heavy palm. His eyes are dark, deep, and steady. "The start was a wreck, Daniella. I won't lie about that. My grandfather built a cage, Gareth set a trap, and I walk
Chapter Sixty TwoDaniella’s PovMorning light hits the cheap kitchen blinds, and I lay the cold truth out on the table like open blueprints."Zero trusts," I tell Daniella, tracing a finger across a pad of yellow legal paper. "Gone. The family real estate portfolio in the valley—revoked access codes. The sovereign equity line through grandfather’s syndicate—locked out. Dividend distribution rights from the baseline parent trust—terminated."I look up, waiting for her shoulders to drop. Waiting for the realization that she chained herself to a sinking ship.Daniella sits cross-legged on the chair, sipping black coffee, her dark eyes steady and unblinking. "What’s left in your name alone?""My independent stock portfolio from pre-venture advisory advisory fees, two hundred thousand in liquid cash sitting in a clean credit union account, and Vance Advisory Group intellectual property rights," I say, laying out the exact math. "It’s enough to cover payroll, office rent for six months, an
Chapter Sixty OneKent’s PovMy thumb hovers over the cracked screen where Freya’s email sits like a bomb waiting to go off, breathing frozen in my throat.Clack. Kent drops his keys on the counter.I don't look at the phone draft yet. I look straight into his tired eyes."Freya called," I say, my voice flat and sharp as a blade.Kent’s shoulders lock. The tiredness on his face turns into hard stone. "What did she say?""She said you sat with Robert. She said there's a paper copy sitting in your briefing folder right now tying my enrollment audit clearance to your wire release." I cross my arms, forcing my legs steady. "Tell me straight, Kent. Did Robert put an exit clause with my name on it?"Kent stares at me for two long seconds. Then he lets out a heavy, ragged breath, running a hand down his face. He walks past the kitchen island, dropping his heavy leather portfolio onto the table with a dull thud. He flips the brass latches, pulls out a single thick sheaf of cream legal paper,
Chapter SixtyDaniella’s PovMy stomach twists into a hard knot when Kent says the name of the man waiting at the Sterling Club.Robert Vance. Freya’s father.The air in the kitchen turns cold. I look at Kent standing tall in his dark jacket, ready to walk into a shadow trap for four million dollars of bridge liquidity. My throat tightens. Every instinct tells me this isn't an investment meeting—it's an ambush wrapped in a wire transfer. Robert wants Kent crawling back to the family tree, humiliated and broke.I open my mouth to warn him, to beg him to skip it, then catch myself.No. I am not playing the frantic, controlling high-society wife who tells him how to breathe.I step across the floor, reaching out to rest my palms flat against his chest, right over his steady, heavy heartbeat. I look straight into his dark eyes."Remember what you promised me, Kent," I say quietly, keeping my voice clear and firm. "You said our relationship would never turn into another corporate deal. Wha
Daniella’s POVMy legs were sore from having stood all day in the lecture hall, so when I relaxed against the wall, it felt like my body was numb. But I endured it because my boyfriend was in the teacher's lounge and I had to wait for him.While waiting, I heard voices coming from in there and I co
He was losing control and he knew it. He knew something was wrong when he had his phone in front of him, a video of two people fucking on the screen, and he couldn't bring himself to jerk the cum out of his cock.His hands weren't giving him the pleasure he needed anymore and this wasn't some rando
Kent's POV“Oh god, yes…”“Fuck, bounce on me faster, that's it.”“K-Kent… I'm c-close… ahh…”“I'm gonna fucking cum too… you're squeezing so fucking tight— fuck!”I should have stopped on the couch and sent her back home but I couldn't get enough of her. I couldn't help but make her ride my cock o
Daniella's POVMy head was pounding when my eyes finally opened. Rays of sunlight danced on my face for a while until I turned away, letting out a soft groan.Where was I?I didn't recognize anything in this room at all so I immediately sat up, my eyes widening in horror as I realized that I was na







