All Chapters of BURNING BETRAYAL: My Mafia Professor.: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

As soon as the gunshot erupted, my body froze.It wasn’t fear first.It was shock.Like my brain didn’t believe what my ears had just heard. Like the sound didn’t belong in the room I was standing in. My chest locked up, breath caught halfway in, my feet refusing to move even though every instinct screamed at me to run.A hand yanked my shoulder hard.“Hey!”I flinched violently.“Zander.”I turned to him, my heart pounding so loud I could barely hear anything else. His face was calm. Too calm. His eyes locked on mine, steady and sharp, like this was exactly how he planned it.“Don’t be scared,” he said.The words didn’t help.They barely reached me.Before I could respond, another hand grabbed mine and pulled me away.Hard.I stumbled forward, dragged along without warning. I turned my head and saw the waiter—the one Zander had pointed at earlier. His grip was firm, urgent, like he wouldn’t let go even if I fought him.“Move,” he snapped.Everything exploded at once.Men in black pou

It didn’t take long before Zander arrived.I heard it before I saw him, the sound of the front door slamming open so hard it echoed through the house. Fast footsteps followed, uneven, rushed. Panic crawled up my spine.I lifted my head just as he appeared in the room.There was blood on his shirt. Not splattered and not soaked. Just a dark stain around his wrist, smeared like he’d wiped his hand without thinking. My eyes locked onto it immediately. My stomach turned.His eyes found me in the same second.The look on his face—God. I’d never seen it like that before. Fear stripped bare. Worry sharp and raw, like he’d been holding it in and it finally cracked.He opened his mouth.I didn’t let him speak.I pushed myself up and ran to him, my legs weak, barely carrying me. The moment I reached him, I broke.“I shot him,” the words ripped out of me as my hands fisted in his shirt. My body shook so hard I could barely stand. “Your man took a bullet for me and I shot someone. I was so scare

Morning came without asking if I was ready.I was.At least, my body was.I stood in front of the mirror already dressed for school, my bag slung over one shoulder, hair tied back neatly like nothing inside me was unraveling. Like I hadn’t spent half the night staring at the ceiling, replaying memories I didn’t want and feelings I couldn’t shut off.I picked up my phone and walked out of my room before I could change my mind.Downstairs was quiet. Too quiet. I turned toward the kitchen.Zander was already there.He stood by the counter with a mug in his hand, shoulders relaxed. The morning light cut across his face, softening lines that had no right to look gentle.My stomach turned.I looked away immediately.I walked past him without a word and headed straight for the coffee machine. My fingers moved on instinct—placing the mug beneath the spout, flipping the switch, reaching for the container. The familiar hum filled the space, grounding me more than his presence ever could.Scoop.

Lectures blurred together like noise without meaning.I sat through them anyway. Took notes. Nodded when everyone else nodded. Raised my eyes to the board when the lecturer spoke, as if I was actually listening. My pen moved across the page, neat lines, familiar handwriting—but none of it stayed in my head.My thoughts kept drifting back to one thing.Him.I pressed my pen harder than necessary and forced myself to breathe.This is stupid.Whatever that was this morning, it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. I wasn’t falling for him. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t afford to. It wasn’t feelings. It was confusion. Proximity. Adrenaline. Trauma mixing with proximity and turning into something that felt bigger than it was.That’s all.I told myself that again and again until the words lost meaning.He’s my enemy.Not a man I should think about. Not someone whose voice still echoed in my head. Not someone whose hands I could still feel on my skin if I closed my eyes for too long.I shifted in my seat, j

The questions wouldn’t leave me alone.They circled my mind like vultures, slow and patient, waiting for weakness.What business did my father have with Zander?What exactly happened between them?I’d asked myself those questions a thousand times before, but now they burned sharper, louder, refusing to be pushed aside. Every memory I had of my father portrayed him as careful, calculating, and always watching his back. A man who smiled easily but trusted no one fully. He’d warned me more than once that enemies didn’t always announce themselves. Sometimes they sat at your table. Sometimes they shook your hand.And Zander had shaken his hand.I knew that much.But the why—That was the part missing.Even Uncle J didn’t have answers. When I’d pressed him before, his face had tightened, his words clipped.“I don’t know,” he’d said. “I’m just paying your father back for helping me. I don’t know who his rivals were. Or who wanted him dead and why.”Back then, I’d accepted it.Now, sitting ac