Sorry for the late update, but here is chapter two! Like I said, this book  will alternate between two major point of views, Victoria and Demetrio.
Chapter one was Demetrio, now this chapter is Victoria.
Also, this is the first draft and not really edited, so please forgive any mistakes you come across, thanks!
Don't forget to vote and comment! Love to hear from all of you!

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Boston, Massachusetts

The first time he saw her she was wearing sky blue yoga pants with a sports bra that crossed at her back. Dark hair pulled into a high ponytail and eyes down the device in her hand, fitting her Bluetooth earphones in their place as she climbed onto a treadmill. Watching her reflection from his place on the static bicycle.

He didn’t know anyone here.

Mainly due to the fact that he moved for the job, and had just settled in, trying out various gyms in an effort to find one more to his liking.

The gym he was currently at was more on the expensive side of the ones he had visited, with a variety of facilities, treadmills, and weight machines, a separate room for group classes and one for yoga and aerobics, then there was an area with static bicycles and then a flight of stairs leading down to the combat arena and swimming pool.

The reflection showed her starting her workout, everyone else going on about their training as she did the same. Finishing up with the cycle, he decided to climb onto the treadmill beside her, not even having warmed up when she was done.

Letting out a huff of sound before heading to the weights area, the man’s eyebrows raising at the sight of her approaching a tall and muscular man with short-cropped hair and a clean-shaven face.

Her trainer, he made a guess when the man told her what to do, and counting the reps.

He couldn’t deny that he was impressed by the weight she was lifting with perfect form, sweat beading her forehead and her delicate skin flushing.

Then again, he couldn’t stop himself from admiring her physique. Her legs and arm taut with lean muscle, her yoga pants pulled high to the middle of her stomach, and slender shoulders. Her face wasn’t bad either, as a matter of fact, she was gorgeous, with thick long lashes, vibrant eyes and plump lips, her hair dark and falling to the middle of her back despite being put into a high ponytail.

Finishing off with the treadmill, he made his way to the weights while the girl and her trainer made their way down the steps and to the combat arena.

Interest piqued, he followed.

Standing in the doorway and watched her talk to a second man who was taping his knuckles while she put her hair into a bun at the back of her head. Her trainer standing to the side and handed her the white tape, the girl wrapping it around her palm with practiced ease, a smirk making its way on the spectators face.

“Excuse me,” He stepped towards them, noticing for a second how the limited inhabitants present looked at him, halting in their training to watch the blonde man approach the three.

“Yes?” The trainer answered for them, the girl not looking up and wrapped her second hand.

“I want to challenge you to combat,”

Snickers resounded from the inhabitants, the man ignoring them as he looked at the girl who glanced at him from below her lashes.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” Her trainer spoke in an Italian accent, arms crossed over his chest and eyes hard. “You’re going to beat,”

“I doubt it, I’m at least twice her body mass and have a brown belt in Aikido,”

“Aikido,” The second man echoed with a smile, looking at the girl with a raised eyebrow. “Cosa dice? (What do you say?)”

“Facciamo questo, (Let’s do it),” She shrugged. “Sarebbe un bel riscaldamento, (Would be a nice warm-up)” She smirked as the two men on either side of her chuckled.

“English,” The blonde man waited.

“She’s saying she’ll do it,” The second man informed him.

“Rules are simple,” Her trainer stood at the edge of the mat, both of them standing across from each other. “No hits beneath the belt, nor above the neck, simple way to win is to put the other on his back, got it?”

Nodding to him, the newcomer got into position arms up to his face and one leg back. The blonde man acutely aware of the fact that there was quite a crowd gathered, men and women both, who smirked and whispered to each other.

“Go!” The trainer called, startling him and in the blink of an eye the girl grabbed him from the front of his shirt and swiped his legs out from beneath him, forcing him to land on the mat with a grunt.

“Pay attention,” She smirked at him and released her hold on him, the blonde man gawking with wide eyes, jumping to his feet as she returned to her position in the center of the mat.

Charging towards her, the girl brought her fist up to hit his shoulder, but the blonde grabbed her arm, turning her so that her back was pressed to his chest, wrapping an arm around her neck, he applied pressure, but doubled over when she elbowed him in the gut. Judo flipping him onto the ground and landing him on his back once more.

Grinding his teeth at the sound of chuckles and the knowing looks in people’s eyes, he got to his feet and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Eyes burning to see that she wasn’t even slightly winded. Charging towards her, he grabbed her from the front, the girl unperturbed as she grabbed his shirt, changing their positions and pulled him forward as she fell back, situating her foot at the center of his chest midair and threw him back onto the mat, the man landing with a loud oomph with the air getting knocked out of his lungs.

“Brown belt in Aikido, my ass,” She snickered and high fived her intended combat partner, the small crowd around them applauding her.

Groaning and rolling onto his front, he pushed himself onto his knees before standing up, pushing back the sleeves of his shirt and approached her.

“I’m not done with you yet, princess,” He smirked and grabbed her shoulder, drawing the other arm back to launch a punch.

Unperturbed, she grabbed the hand holding her in place, twisted his arm so that he hunched forward, driving her knee into his torso before swiping his legs out from beneath him, rendering him on his back once more.

Groaning out loud, he slammed his hands onto the mat and attacked again.

While he lost his patience, she maintained her composure, blocking, dodging, and retaliating. Putting him on his back again and again with such a vast variety of fighting styles, he didn’t know where she could have possibly learned them from. Then after a certain point, every time she’d pin him to the ground, she’d smirk above him and say one word:

“Dead,”

His blood only boiling to see that all this combat had only caused her forehead to bead with sweat, her breathing even and eyes focused while his shirt was drenched, chest heaving and judgment clouded with the anger of people snorting at his failures.

“Dead,” She smirked above him, leaning over his head and straddling his torso.

In a fit of rage, he slammed his forehead against her chin, the impact sending her staggering back.

Within a flash, he was pulled up from the ground and slammed into the wall, a muscled forearm choking his windpipe as gasps resounded against the arena, the second man going to the girl and ensuring she was fine as she wiped the blood away with the tissue held out to her.

“Fredrico,” She called to the man holding him in place. “Basta cosi (That’s enough),”

“Solo un colpo, signora (Just one hit, ma’am),” He gritted out, murder in his eyes and teeth bared the blonde paling.

“No,” She told him, picked herself off the ground, dusting herself off before making her way to the blonde man pinned to the wall. Smiling at him through bloodied teeth. “It took you unfair means to try and take me down, and even then you failed,” She shrugged with a chuckle.

“Lascialo andare,” She told the trainer with a straight face, the man releasing him as the blonde crumpled onto the mat gasping for breath and watched her walk away with the two men in tow.

With the weekend coming to an end, Monday rolled around and the man swallowed down the churning of his stomach as he grabbed all his essentials for the first day at a new workplace.

Meeting with his superiors before being shown to his office and then the classroom where he would be teaching.

Arriving fifteen minutes earlier, he shook out the nerves from his hands, looking at the ascending seats in front of him and removed his blazer. Picking up the marker to write down his name on the board behind him.

Within the next five minutes, students began to trickle in, taking their seats and chatting with their friends or tapping on their phones. Their professor inhaling deeply before leaning against the front of the desk, arms crossed over his chest.

With just three minutes to the class beginning, a tall woman walked in, dressed in black dress pants and a blush pink blouse, one hand slipped into the pocket with the other holding a coffee thermos, her bag slung over her shoulder and her dark hair pulled into a bun at the base of her neck.

“Good morning, everyone,” She greeted the people with a smile in her voice that rung soft and clear to the very last seat.

“Good morning, president,” They all greeted enthusiastically in response, the professor watching the woman turn her attention to him and tensed in his place to recognize the woman from the gym.

“Good morning,” She made her way towards him, her heels clicking against the floor as she shifted the thermos to the other hand, sticking out her hand to his rigid form. “You must be our new professor. I’m the student council president and class representative, so if you are ever in the need of any assistance to settle into your new role, please don’t hesitate to call on me,” She smiled politely and gave him a firm handshake.

Turning to take her seat in the second row, students flocking around her as she smiled, laughed and greeted them all in turn, their new professor looking down at the time and deciding that starting one minute earlier won’t kill anyone.

“Alright, settle down everyone,” He called out as they all calmed down. “I’m your new professor, Dr. Maverick Turner, this is my first time teaching at an MBA level, so please don’t chew me out,” He tried for a light-hearted tone as a few people chuckled at the words.

“So I guess, we start with introductions,” Maverick clapped his hands together, gesturing to the student in the corner at the far back. “Name, please,”

He listened to everyone’s names, not really paying attention because he knew he wasn’t going to remember it, making his way to the other side of the desk and flipped open the notebook he had been provided, a personal possession of his predecessor.

“You can call me president,” A voice intoned, forcing Maverick’s gaze to shoot up and stare at the girl in the second row. “Sir,” She added, more as an afterthought than a show of respect.

“I asked for your name,”

“Name refers to what you’d be addressed as, and I would like to be addressed as President,” She smiled as the people around her snickered.

“Fine, doesn’t matter to me,”

“Oh, but it should. We’re your class, Mr. Turner, thereby, your responsibility, and how can you take responsibility of us when you can’t even remember something as simple as our names?”

“It’s doctor,” Maverick narrowed his eyes and closed the notebook. “And you can’t expect me to remember everyone’s names. There are four hundred plus students under me in this department,”

“Why, is that hard for you?” President taunted. “Mr. Turner?” Another wave of chuckles passing over the class.

“Doctor Turner,” He ground out. “Are you saying that you can give me the names of everyone present right now?”

“I can do you one better,” Victoria stood up from her seat, making her way to the front of the class and stood before him with a smug smirk. “I’ll tell you everyone’s full name, their age, and their major,” She turned around and began with the person to her right.

“Olivia Jones, twenty-nine, majoring in Finance,” She smiled and waved to the girl who flushed and waved back. “Allen Reed, thirty-one, majoring in Human Resource Management,” She resumed, taking everyone’s names, age, and majors in turn.

Not missing a single person, smiling and waving to them all in turn and not even stopping to take a moment to think or recollect their information.

“And finally, there is Edward Torrez,” She waved at him as he grinned and waved back enthusiastically. “Twenty-eight, and majoring in Accounting,” She turned to her professor, smile not faltering and eyes sparkling like she had made her point.

“And I didn’t even need any unfair means to take you down, Mr. Turner,” She spoke low enough just for him to hear and smiled, making her way back to her seat and high fiving the people she passed like a rock star celebrity.

“What was the last thing, Professor Greyson taught you all?” He demanded, glaring down at the notebook and looked up to see a few hands raised, the President sitting with her arms crossed over her chest and basking in her glory. “You,” He pointed to one of the students, the others lowered their hands as she stood

“Her name is Jordan,” Victoria piped in, Maverick grinding his teeth and inhaling deeply to calm himself.

“Yes, Jordon, you were telling me something,”

Stammering for a second, Jordon went into an account of what the late professor Greyson taught them and the course they had covered so far.

“Alright, thank you,” He turned to the board, erasing his name. “So we’ll continue where Greyson left off,”

Maverick went about the class with relatively little to no disturbance other than Victoria intoning people’s names every time he called on anyone, her tone taunting him as he clenched the marker in his palm, indenting the skin, and heaved the breath of relief when the time finished, packing up his belongings and rushing out of the classroom before any student.

Maverick had high hopes when he took up the job as Professor of Harvard Business School’s MBA program. One that involved people admiring and respecting his intellect, achievements, and him. Then it didn’t help his ego when he learned that students had begun looking forward to his class, not because they enjoyed it, or because they liked him, but because not a single class went by without him arguing and bickering with the girl whom he only knew as President.

It was never his proudest moment when he would lose his composure and raise his voice, and she’d be completely unperturbed by his anger, finding it rather amusing as she’d just say a few soft-spoken words and leave him speechless.

Today was no different, Maverick bracing the table after having lost his temper once again, and straightened with a sharp inhale, eyes narrowing at the girl who smiled sweetly at him as if though she weren’t the cause of his crumbling patience.

Deciding he had enough.

“You hide behind all that glamour and expensive clothes and your popularity, and think you’re untouchable because of it, but in reality you are a lonely pathetic little girl whose parents never loved her enough and always neglected her so she sought their attention with negative attention seeking, simply because you’re a spoiled brat with daddy issues who doesn’t know when enough is enough!”

Everyone’s murmuring stopped at that, silently staring between the professor and Victoria, whispering to each other as the girl lowered her head, her shoulders shaking. Maverick freezing for a second to think that he went too far and made her cry, but instead, she raised her head and…laughed.

Her laugh was melodious and ringing clear in the silent classroom as she shook her head, leaning forward on her table and smirked at him. Taunting him.

“No, professor, I am not a pathetic weak little girl. I beat you in hand-to-hand combat. Repeatedly. Yes, my family is well to do, and I am a spoiled brat because I’m daddy’s princess, and not in a negative sense either. He knew when I needed to be kept in line and was honest with me.” She smiled candidly. “But here is the thing professor, I am loved. I am loved very much by not only those around me but by my family as well, and the way that I am is because I am my father’s daughter and was raised not to take shit from anyone, even if that someone is an egotistical arrogant professor. My parents never abandoned me, not once in my twenty-eight years of life have I had to compete with anyone or anything for the love of my parents, and I can prove it to you,”

“Yeah? And how will you do that?” Maverick taunted.

“Simple, I’ll call dad and ask him to drop everything and come to Boston for me,”

“Sure, and what reason would you give?”

“Nothing at all,” Victoria smiled and picked up her phone, dialing a number and put it on speaker. “I’ll speak in English for you all,”

“Ciao, Tesoro,” A deep voice answered the phone. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” She smiled. “Listen, dad, I was wondering if you could come here?”

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to see you,”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Her father responded and hung up the phone, Victoria smirking at her professor who regarded her with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Maverick echoed. “That doesn’t mean anything, princess,”

“You know why I think you keep attacking me with unfair means?” Victoria put away her phone and regarded the professor with calm composure. “It’s because you’re the weak, pathetic, little man whose parents neglected him growing up and were never around. Don’t project your problems onto me. You and I are worlds apart,” She winked and got up, walking out of the classroom just as the bell rang.

Maverick rubbed a hand over his face when he came into class the next morning, his head pounding and stomach rolling, realizing what a bad decision it was to drink on a weekday and then show up hungover to class.

Sitting on top of his desk and vacantly stared at the door as students pooled in, eyebrows raising to see the President halting a couple paces from the door, dressed in a white silk blouse and black pencil skirt, fixing the front of her shirt, and patted her hairdo to ensure it was in place before inhaling deeply and smiled, eyes lifting and tensed to find Maverick looking at her.

A smirk began making its way to his lips to realize he had caught her off guard, but then frowned when she winked at him and gave him a twirl to show off her obviously designer clothes, chuckling to herself at her antics and made her way inside. Wishing everyone a good morning and took her seat, Maverick swallowing at the delicate aroma she left in her wake.

Bracing himself for her arguing, Maverick started the class, and taught with tensed shoulders, waiting for the inevitable interjection.

But it never came.

There was an interjection, no doubt, but it didn’t come from Victoria, instead it came from the class door being opened by a suit-clad man, stepping to the side as an older man with dark hair and dark beard strolled in, dressed in a bespoke three-piece grey Armani with a white undershirt and black tie. He didn’t spare Maverick a seconds glance and instead stopped in the center of the room, looking at the students.

“Excuse me-” Maverick began once he regained his bearings, but faltered when Victoria stepped out of her seat and came bounding down the stairs with a wide grin on her lips, her eyes crinkling as she laughed and tackled the man in a hug. The older gentlemen returning the affectionate gesture and placed a kiss on her temple.

The professor watched as the man held her at arm’s length, face cupped into his hands and smiling down at her.

“Everything alright?” He asked, placing a kiss on her forehead as she nodded.

“Dad, I want you to meet Mr. Maverick Turner, Professor Greyson’s replacement,”

Maverick tensed when the man’s cold eyes fixated on him, seemingly seeing right through him without giving away any indicator of his impression of the teacher, simply sizing him up.

“Uh…pleasure meeting you,” Dr. Turner stumbled forward, holding his hand out to him.

“Is a competent teacher?” Her father asked instead, eying the hand held out to him, Maverick retreated it like he had been burnt. “I recall Adam being an excellent professor. A shame what happened to him, truly,”

“Death happens to us all,” Victoria spoke before grinning at her father. “Dad, we had a bet,”

“Yeah? What sort?”

“Mr. Turner bet that if I called you wouldn’t show up, and I told him you would,”

“That’s interesting, Mr. Turner,” He returned his piercing gaze to the professor, the man tensing as the hair on his arms stood up and sweat beaded the back of his neck. “You’re betting with my daughter about my love and devotion for her instead of teaching business to these students, should I be concerned or does my family have something to do with the course,”

“Uh, no sir, that’s not-” He stammered at a loss of words.

“-Are you trying to say that’s not the case?” Her father raised an eyebrow. “Are you accusing my daughter of lying, Mr. Turner?”

“No! Not at all!” Maverick raised his arms and staggered back, noticing the two suit-clad men standing guard at the door, watching him with hawk-like features. “No, I am not saying any of that, sir. You see, we were having a friendly argument and I said…”

“Yes?”

“I…” He flushed recalling his verbal attack on her personality and swallowed to think that he’d have to tell her father that. “I lost my temper and said some things I shouldn’t have, and she said that she can prove me wrong by calling you,”

“And what exactly did you say?” Salvatore narrowed his eyes, stepping forward and halted the guards with a raised hand, watching the professor squirm from the tip of his nose. “You get paid to teach them business, not make a second-hand attempt at psychoanalyzing them and saying backhand remarks to verbally attack their personality,”

“I know-”

“-I can have you fired under charges of harassment,” He stopped him from continuing. “I wonder what that would do for your teaching permit,”

“Sir…” Maverick’s face paled and legs trembled, holding onto the table in an effort to remain standing. “I-”

“-I’m giving you two weeks to straighten your act and behave like a professor and not some hotheaded teenager,” Victoria’s father gave the ultimatum. “I’m in contact with every single student in my daughter’s department, and if anyone of them has even a single complaint about you, I will personally take it up with the Chancellor of this University,”

Maverick opened and closed his mouth, heart dropping to his feet as his head pounded and vision doubled for a moment.

“Are we clear?”

He nodded in silence, unable to do more.

“I didn’t hear that,”

“Yes, sir,” Maverick exhaled meekly, trying to maintain his posture in an attempt to retain his dignity and watched the Italian turn to his daughter, eyes softening and a smile overcoming his face.

“I’m going to meet with the Dean since you have classes, okay,” He ran his knuckles down her cheek as she nodded, looking like an entirely different person with eyes sparkling in admiration. “Then I’ll go to your place and prepare lunch for when you get back,”

“I’d love that,”

“Good,” He kissed her forehead. “Now behave,”

“Yes, dad,” She chuckled at the words, watching him pull away and make his way to the door, turning to address the class. “Good luck to all of you,”

“Thank you, sir,” They all grinned.

Salvatore turned to his daughter once more, eyebrow raised.

“Leonardo told me about the man who hurt you at the gym because he couldn’t respect his defeat,” He spoke, ignorant to the way Maverick tensed, his heart-stopping and a lump lodging in his throat.

“Yeah? What about it,”

“I know you’re a big girl and can take care of yourself, but if we find out who that person is, I’m going to murder them,” Salvatore spoke in a tone that made it seem like he was talking about the weather, his eyes darting to Maverick for a second as he regarded him with nothing short of contempt, the Professor sweating to realize her father knew who he was.