Page 34 of Bound in Debt
However, my embarrassment doesn’t stop me from latching onto his shirt like a lifeline and praying to God he listens.
“I need you to help me,” I plead. “Please, Professor?—”
“What the hell happened?” he barks out. His fingers skim over my hip but don’t hold on, as if he wants to comfort me but doesn’t know how.
“There was a man?—”
“Where?” Professor Moretti jerks me into his body before twisting me behind him as he scans the area I ran from. “Where is he?”
I’m so out of breath from my workout and my escape that I can’t answer. When all I can do is gasp for air, Professor Moretti turns back, towering over me with rage.
“Victoria, where the fuck is he?”
“I don’t know,” I gasp, bending over and placing my palms on my knees to try and get my body under control.
But Professor Moretti has other ideas.
He links his arm with mine and ushers me to a nearby building. With his wide body, he leads me through the door, the darkness of the room sending my nerves back to high alert. Professor Moretti latches onto my hip and turns me to face him.
“What happened?” he implores, losing some of the steel in his tone.
The moonlight highlights the edge of his stubbled jawline and I’m surrounded by the patchouli scent that wafts off him. I’m mesmerized by the closeness of his chest—just an inch away from mine.
Professor Moretti is a force of nature. Just by being. I’ve never met a man who wears his dominance so naturally, who isn’t obviously wearing a mask and performing for the world, playing at control.
He’s a mythical creature as far as I’m concerned.
“I was…at the gym,” I begin to tell him. “I was walking back to my dorm when someone grabbed me around the neck.”
“Did he touch you?” The sharp steel is back and I really don’t understand why he can’t seem to listen to me. I just told him that someone snatched me up by the throat.
“Yes, I just said—” Professor Moretti suddenly starts for the door. “Wait.”
I don’t expect him to stop. But something in my voice makes him. Maybe he decided to have mercy on me for once.
“Please don’t leave me here alone,” I beg, nervously twisting my fingers together. “I don’t think you’ll be able to find him.”
Professor Moretti slowly steps closer and asks, “Did you recognize him? Is he in one of your classes?”
I shake my head back and forth. “No. It wasn’t like that. He said he knew Liam. That he owed him money—” My professor is back in my space in a blink and I flinch. He’s fast.
“Victoria, I need you to be very clear with your next words. I need to know every single thing he said.”
Okay…
I’m sure that man is long gone by now, and getting Thronewood security involved will only be a waste of time. They’re notoriously understaffed and stretched too thin trying to manage all the parties on campus.
“He, um…asked me if I was engaged to Liam. I tried to tell him that it wasn’t by choice but he didn’t listen to that part.”
“What else?”
“Liam owes his boss money. Six million. And the man said that if it’s not paid, they’ll take it out on me. But I don’t know who ‘they’ are.” Tears burn the back of my eyes but I refuse to let a sob work its way up my throat. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
Professor Moretti’s palm cups my cheek and electricity zings through my entire body. His thumb brushes my cheekbone and I don’t move in sheer shock. His touch is strangely comforting, and I’ll take any bit of comfort I can right now.
“I need you to listen very carefully, Victoria,” he mutters above me, his grip on my face tightening. “It’s very important that you don’t scream. You don’t freak out. You don’t run around and tell your friends what I’m about to tell you. This shit is for real.”
I bob my head, unable to give my acknowledgment any other way. I’m terrified of what he’s about to say and how it will affect me. What kind of shit is Liam into? And why am I at the center of this violent chaos?
