Welcome to the next chapter of Regnante Legacy. As you all would have probably guessed, this is Victoria's chapter and takes places a couple days after the events of 'Chapter II: President'.
Don't be shy to comment and vote, I love hearing from all of you!
Now without further ado:

***

Boston, Massachusetts

With the weekend, Maverick attempted to sort some of the boxes he had yet to unpack, one of them being the one labeled ‘kitchen’. Eating out of disposable plates, sleeping on a mattress in the center of the loft upstairs, with every surface covered by a variety of books, his suitcases lying open with clothes spilling out and, takeout boxes that had yet to be thrown.

Despite all that was pending, the professor sat in front of his coffee table and divided his attention between the pages in his hands and the laptop screen, scratching at his head in an effort to come up with a plan for the coming week.

The knock on his door tore him away from his work, muttering to himself as he walked to the bag on the kitchen counter, riffling through it in search of his wallet before opening the door. Counting the bills and doing some quick calculation, looking up to greet the delivery boy, but his smile falling and face paling at the sight of Victoria’s father instead.

He was dressed in a pinstriped grey suit with a white button down and burgundy tie, his hair styled back and hands slipped into his slack’s pockets. The image of the Italian a complete one-eighty degree turn from Maverick’s baggy old sweatpants that housed decades-old stains and a t-shirt that had been through the wash so many times it was threadbare and riddled with holes.

“Mr. Lombardi!” He staggered and collided into the door, swallowing at the sight of the two men who entered into his home, leaving the American to gawk after their intrusion.

“Mr. Turner,” Salvatore acknowledged.

The guards went through his belongings, scattering his put-together mess, the American’s mouth opening, and closing, pressing his lips into a thin line in the end.

“Via libera, Capo (All clear, boss),” One of them intoned from his place at the bottom of the stairs, Salvatore nodding, and stepping through the threshold. Maverick inhaling sharply and held his breath before pressing himself further into the door’s structure.

“Garzie, Fio (Thank you, Fio),” He walked over the mess and made his way to the dining table, the second guard pulling out the chair as the Italian settled himself, both suit-clad men standing guard behind him.

The Professor swallowed and tried to straighten things to the best of his ability, tossing the boxes aside and running a hand through his greasy hair and stood with an uncertain smile, swallowed the dryness in his throat. Attempting to speak.

“Mister-”

“-What is your problem?”

“What?” Maverick staggered at the words, eyebrows furrowing. “What do you mean?”

“First you challenge my daughter in hand-to-hand combat and then when she beats you again and again and again-”

“-It wasn’t that many times…”

Salvatore raised an eyebrow at the man’s words.

“Tonio?” He called out to one of the two men as he stepped forward and tapped at the screen on his phone. Holding up the device to show their fight.

“Fourteen times,” The guard spoke before retreating back to his position.

“Fourteen times my daughter defeated you,” Salvatore resumed speaking as Maverick winced at the fact that not only was it on video, but this man had seen it. “You had your chance to graciously accept your defeat and call it a day, but what do you do instead?”

“I…”

“You head-butt her, forcing her lip to bleed,” He stated matter-of-factly, eyes boring into Maverick’s hunched figure. “Do you pride yourself in getting her down by breaking the rules? Is that the sort of man you are, Maverick?”

“No, sir, I-”

“-Not only do you consciously do that but then you don’t even have the decency to apologize? A woman who is what? Ten years younger than you, and you hurt her, and don’t even apologize?”

“Sir, I-”

“-I had thought Victoria was going a little overboard. She has the tendency to get carried away, but after I was brought up to date with the entire situation, I have to say, Mr. Turner, I don’t quite like the man I’m seeing,” Salvatore smiled sardonically. “Not only that, but you’re getting riled up by words and facts. What is the point of you, Mr. Turner, if you can’t even perform the most basic of duties assigned to you?”

“It’s Doctor,” Maverick clenched his fists and grit out.

“What?”

“It’s Doctor Maverick Turner, not Mister Turner,”

“Does it matter? You don’t deserve the honorifics attached to your name if you can’t even maintain a modicum of composure in front of a MBA class,”

“You don’t know anything about me,” Maverick glared back at the man seated at his dining table. “You’re her father, of course, you’ll take her side,”

“I know plenty about you, Maverick,” Salvatore raised an eyebrow, the words, and the way he said them with such surety had a chill go down his spine. “And I am her father, yes, but my job as her father is not to get blinded by my love for her and teach her the difference between right and wrong. Then again, I don’t see where she is wrong if you haven’t apologized for hurting her. Do you see where she is wrong when you were the one to instigate it?”

“What sort of weird twisted psychology is this?” The professor exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

“Mr. Turner,” Salvatore's voice chilled him to the bone. Maverick’s words faltering and his voice leaving him. “Don’t raise your voice at me, I don’t take kindly to such disrespect,”

“Well, neither do I!”

Maverick staggered back when both men made a step towards him, forcing the professor to bump into the boxes and make a painful landing onto the books. Squinting at the two strangers who had stopped in their advances, realizing that Salvatore had halted them with nothing more than a simple raised hand.

“Who the fuck are you?” Maverick ground through gritted teeth, staring at the man at his dining table. Watching him stand up and button the front of his blazer.

“You will apologize to Victoria, Mr. Turner,” Salvatore stated. “She may have the tendency to go overboard, but she is not unreasonable,”

“Hey, wait-!” He struggled to get up as the other walked towards the door. “You-!” Maverick didn’t even get a chance to finish his words, finding the man gone by the time he managed to stand.

Maverick swallowed the words bursting on the tip of his tongue and looked around him, the room feeling untouched and he had to remind himself that her father had actually been here and that their conversation wasn’t a figment of his imagination.

Shaking his head, and with his heart thundering, he decided that he would clean his apartment. Properly settle in.

On Monday morning, the whole class sat in their seats, murmuring and chattering to each other as the front of the room was vacant of the professor.

“Hey, president,” One of the boys above Victoria called out.

“Yes, Ethan?”

“After how long can we leave if the professor doesn’t show up?”

“About twenty minutes,”

“So ten more minutes,”

“Yup,” She grinned and turned her attention back to her friend, listening to her talk about her date, Victoria unable to keep herself from smiling and squealing at how well it went and how much she enjoyed it.

“I’m sorry for being late,” Maverick exhaled breathlessly, damp hair falling into his eyes and polo askew on his frame. “Everyone settle down, please,” He dumped his belongings on the table, fixed his shirt and bent down to tie the laces of his shoes and straightened, flicking his head back to move the hair out of his face.

“Don’t ask me why I’m late, I overslept and contemplated not showing up, but then had a nightmare about being murdered for not being able to properly conduct the duties assigned to me and woke up with a scream before literally rushing through my morning routine to get here before you all left,” Maverick spoke in one breath, everyone sharing concerned glances towards each other and wondered if they should say or do anything. “Right, so what did we do last week? Edward, remind me,”

“Uh…which Edward?” One of the Edwards spoke up. “There are two,”

“Right, my bad,” Maverick shook his head. “Edward Stone,”

Victoria raised an eyebrow when she saw the person in question stand up, consulting his notebook while Mr. Turner stood in his spot, listening to what he had to say before launching into a review of last week and then told them what would be covered in this class.

Everyone got up and gathered their things to leave when the bell rang, Maverick wishing everyone a good day as he stood at the front of the class, smiling and answering students’ questions, Victoria hesitating at the door.

“Come on, let’s go?” Her friend, Amber, beckoned her forward.

“You go on, I’ll join you in a second,” Victoria smiled and walked back into class, standing back as the students laughed and smiled at what the professor was saying, the woman unable to stop herself from glancing down at her watch at their prolonged conversation.

“We really enjoyed today’s class, professor,” One of the girls giggled while the people around her nodded. “I guess it’s because miss know-it-all didn’t intervene, huh?” She winked, catching sight of Victoria from the corner of her eyes, the Italian ignoring the words.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maverick chuckled. “I enjoy a good challenge, but I have to say that I felt better about teaching today, probably because I finally managed to settle into my apartment and that lifted a huge weight off my head,”

“Oh! Congratulations!”

“Thank you, now why don’t you girls head on out, I’m sure it’s time for your next class,”

“Alright, sir, thank you for today,”

“Have a good day,” He smiled and turned to walk to the other side of the table, momentarily faltering to see Victoria standing a few paces away from him, patiently waiting for the girls to leave. “Victoria,”

“So you learned my name,”

“No thanks to you,” Maverick chuckled and began to gather his belongings. “How can I help you, today?”

“Did dad pay you a visit?”

“What? Why do you ask?” He straightened and regarded her with furrowed eyebrows, having a distinct feeling that he wasn’t supposed to share the visit.

“The fact that you know my name all of a sudden, and one of your dialogues are the exact words dad said to me before he left yesterday,”

“Ah, I see,”

“So he did visit you,”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” He shrugged and put all his things into his messenger bag, stilling to see Victoria’s face contort in discomfort and her shoulders tense. “Victoria-?”

“-I am so sorry,” She rubbed a hand over her forehead. “I got ahead of myself and called dad here, knowing that this would be the expected outcome. I’m sorry, I hope he didn’t threaten you or anything? He’s very protective of us,”

“Uh…” Maverick stammered, watching the girl who usually held herself with such confidence now looked utterly bereft with regret, her shoulders hunched and knuckles turning white with her grip on the notebook, eyes darting around and plum-colored lips pressed into a thin line. “Actually,” He scratched at his nape.

“I should be the one to apologize, I’m the one who hurt you in the first place and then sort of instigated this onslaught on myself,” He chuckled, gaze darting to Victoria in hopes to see her crack a smile, but cleared his throat when she regarded him with that same uncomfortable expression. “Here, you know what, let’s start with a clean slate,” Maverick stated and covered the distance between them in three long strides, holding his hand out to her.

“Hello, I am Dr. Maverick Turner, your new business professor.”

Victoria looked down at his outstretched hand and swallowed. Taking hold of it, she gave it a firm shake and tried for a soft smile.

“Pleasure meeting you, Dr. Turner, I’m Victoria Lombardi, the student council president, and the class representative,”

“Nice meeting you, Lombardi, could I come to you for any assistance I might need for settling in better into my new role?”

“Certainly, sir,” Victoria couldn’t help herself from grinning to have her words from day one parroted back to her. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“As a matter of fact, there is,” Maverick smiled back at her. “I have yet to clear out Dr. Grayson’s belongings and was hoping you could aid me in the endeavor,”

“Yes, I can do that,” Her eyes widened a fraction before nodding. “Is it alright if we do it around two? My classes finish then,”

“Yes, yes, I’m in no rush,”

“Alright,” Victoria nodded to herself, beginning to make her way to the door. “So I’ll see you at your office at two?”

“That’s where you’ll find me,”

“Have a good day, Dr. Turner,”

“You too,” He called after her as she disappeared at the bend, Maverick heaving breath and sagged against the edge of the table, chuckling to himself and shook his head, realizing that all it took was an apology.

A knock on the door had Maverick look up from the plethora of books he was drowned under, gasping as he straightened, holding his back and squinted at the door, eyebrows raising at the person.

“Lombardi! Come on in,”

“Professor,” Victoria greeted and stepped over the piles of books her bag slung over her shoulder and tread through the maze in her heels, careful to avoid upturning any piles and stopped a few paces away from the professor, placing her bag and notebook onto the desk at the back of the room. “Right, so what are we doing?”

“Well, I’m trying to put all his academic texts into boxes to be shipped off to his…”

“Son,”

“Son, right,” Maverick waved. “And then I’m going through the notebooks and finding those with his semester notes in them, his son has given me permission to keep them,”

“That’s very kind of him,”

“I heard Professor Greyson was estranged from his family?”

“Yeah, after his divorce, he threw himself into his work and made his students his family, and I guess that fact made Derek jealous,”

“Derek?”

“Professor Greyson’s son,”

“You know him?”

“Oh, no,” Victoria shook her head with a chuckle, her cheeks flushing a light pink as she bent down to grab a pile of the books. “Professor Greyson told us once,”

“Oh,”

“Yeah, as I said, he considered us his family,”

“I see,”

“Where do you want these?” Victoria held up a stack of books, reading the spine.

“Any box would be fine, all the books are going out anyways,” Maverick gestured to the cartons around him. “Personal artifacts need to be placed in a separate box though, and notebooks I have to go through before packing them away,”

“Alright,” She nodded and walked over to one of the boxes in the corner, her heels clicking against the old flooring and crouched down to neatly stack them inside.

They worked in silence for a moment, Victoria putting away the books while Maverick packed up all personal belongings, emptying the drawers and shelves, the only sound being that of paper rustling and her heels against the wooden flooring.

“Where are you from?” Maverick spoke up with his back to her. “In Italy, to be precise,”

“Oh, I’m from Tuscany,”

“Huh,” He mused. “I thought you’d be from Sicily,”

Victoria was grateful that he had his back to her and was unaware of her tensing, regaining her composure the moment he turned around and regarded her with a raised eyebrow as she gave him an amused smile.

“No, sir, I’m from Florence, but we do have a summer home there, it’s a very beautiful place,”

“And your dad is from there as well? Florence, I mean,”

“Yup, born and raised,”

“And what is it that he does for a living?”

“Dad is a businessman with political affiliations,”

“And these affiliations are such that warrant bodyguards?”

“He’s a tad bit paranoid about our safety,” Victoria chuckled, stomach squirming to think of why he was asking such questions.

“A tad would be an understatement,” Maverick muttered while Victoria chuckled at the words, shrugging in response. “You have a brother?”

“Yes, he’s in New York, studying at Columbia University,”

“BBA?”

“Demetrio isn’t into business, he’s doing MS in political sciences,”

“Oh, Masters. How much older is he from you?”

“He’s younger. By two years,”

“Huh,”

“What?”

“That’s the exact same age gap between my sister and I, granted she’s younger, but the point remains,” 

Chuckling at the words, Victoria resumed putting away the books, walking from one corner to the next, until Maverick finished with the personal belongings and joined to help her clear out the shelves. Both of them going about their work until the professor stopped to take a breath, looking at the mess around him and groaned.

“There is still so much to go,” Maverick flopped down on the floor, sitting cross-legged with his chin propped on his knuckles. “What a hoarder,”

“Hey, at least its books he was hoarding, and very nice ones at that, too,” Victoria chuckled, resuming boxing them up. “Granted, I don’t agree with some of them, but they’re majorly good,”

“You’re talking as if though you’ve read them,”

“I have,”

“What?” Maverick straightened. “All of them?”

“Yes, sir,”

“When?”

“During the break between my bachelor’s graduation and Masters inauguration,”

“Whoa, impressive,” He gave her an impressed nod as she gave a shy smile and shrugged.

“Thank you,”

“What do you say we stop for now?” Maverick spoke up. “And grab some lunch,”

“I could have lunch brought here and we can finish all this today,”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” She nodded and made her way to her bag, fishing out her phone and dialed a number. “Are you up for a subway?”

“Yeah, sure. Six incher, please,”

“Pfft, baby,” Victoria scoffed and talked into the phone, asking him a few questions about how he wanted his before relaying the information in Italian, hanging up once it was delivered. “You’ll have your six-incher subway in half an hour,” She taunted.

“Hey!” He spoke in mock exasperation. “My stomach isn’t a bottomless chasm, like you,”

“If only it was a bottomless chasm, I wouldn’t have to burn off all the calories at the gym every day to maintain this physique,” Victoria sighed and gestured to herself, and Maverick couldn’t help looking her over from his place on the ground.

She was dressed in a slim fit two-piece burgundy suit with a white blouse underneath, her attire accessorized with nude pencil heels and a matching bag that was big enough to house her books. Her hair pulled into a high ponytail and her makeup done to accentuate her best features.

“You don’t look Italian,” He finally spoke up, pulling himself off the ground and dusted off his pants, looking up when Victoria scoffed.

“What else would I look?”

“Greek?”

The words had Victoria falter and drop the stacks of books, the hardcovers landing on her foot as she yelped and jumped back, colliding into Maverick’s chest and sending them both flailing, dragging down another stack of books as Victoria hunched into herself to avoid the pain, and gasped when Maverick covered her with his body, grunting softly at the impact of them on his back.

“Ouch,” He finally exhaled and straightened, looking down at Victoria seated between his legs as she stared at him with wide eyes and her arms held up to cover her head. “Are you okay?”

“You-”

“-Signora?” A voice called from the doorway, Maverick watching Victoria stagger to her feet at the sight of the suit-clad man, holding up her hand as a sign for him to wait as he held two subway paper bags in one hand and the other was tucked into the fold of his suit.

“Aspetta lì (Wait there),” Victoria told him, and staggered on her feet, her shoes wobbling, and gasped when Maverick steadied her with a hand to her back. 

“Easy,” He chuckled. “I think your heels broke,” He pointed to the shoes, where the heel of one looked crooked.

“Signora,” The man appeared in front of them, Victoria taking hold of the hand he held out to her, as Maverick released his hold. The woman taking off her shoes and sighed down at them. “Dovrei tagliargli la mano per toccarti? (Should I cut off his hand for touching you?)”

“No, Fredrico,” She smiled sadly up at him. “Could you bring me a change of shoes instead?”

“Certo, Signora, (Certainly, ma'am),” He stated and took the shoes she held out him and placed the bags on the table behind her. “Leonardo dovrebbe restare qui? (Should Leaonardo stay in here?)”

“No need for that,” Victoria shook her head, ignorant to Maverick’s confused gaze. 

Nodding to her words, Fredrico hesitated a second, sending a glare to Maverick before picking up the shoes and taking them with him.

Standing in momentary silence, Victoria looked down at her toes before turning towards Maverick and suggested they eat lunch.

Victoria sat on top of the table, swinging her legs and ate her subway sandwich in silence while Maverick leaned on the ledge beside her. Both of them looking out at the room in front of them.

“I think…” Maverick began once he finished his sandwich, reaching for his drink behind him but jumped when his fingers grazed Victoria’s palm, the girl straightening beside him and bit into her sandwich like she hadn’t felt the contact. “I think you can go home once we’ve packed up all the books,”

“Hmm?” She looked towards him, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she slowly chewed.

“I’m done with the personal belongings, once the books are packed, it practically done. I’ll have to go through the notebooks myself, so I don’t need any help in that,”

“Okay,” Victoria nodded and finished her sandwich, dusting her hands before wiping them with a napkin, dabbing at her mouth as well and reached into her bag for a sanitizer, holding it out to Maverick who took it and cleaned his hands. Chuckling to himself when the girl beside him put the sanitizer away and took out a small lotion bottle, applying some on her hands and leathered it onto her skin, filling the room with a rich floral fragrance. “Let’s get this over with,”

Nodding in agreement, they both finished packing up the books with no incidences, stopping when Fredrico arrived with a second pair of nude heels, Victoria taking hold of his hand and put them on, thanking the man with a grin and informed him she’d be done in ten or so minutes and to start the car.

“Si, Signora,” He nodded and left her to wrap up.

“That’s about it,” Maverick dusted his hands and put the last of the boxes in the corner. “Now all this left are the notebooks,”

“Good luck with them, professor,” Victoria smiled from the table, picking up her bag.

“Thank you for your help, Lombardi,”

“You’re welcome, and you can call me Victoria, Lombardi sounds too tense,”

“Oh, then thank you for your help,” Maverick put a hand to his chest and grinned. “Victoria,”

Giving him a smile, she nodded and walked out of the office, leaving Maverick to sort through the notebooks on his own.

He was halfway through the pile when he came across it. A black leather Chanel planner with a black and gold Mont Blanc fountain pen.

Eyebrows furrowed, he opened it and flipped through the elegant cursive writing, some in English and some words written in a language he couldn’t comprehend, small notes made into the margins and sticky notes placed here and there. It took him no more than two minutes to realize this wasn’t Professor Grayson’s.

Flipping to the very first page, he instantly found the owner, eyes widening before he chuckled to himself and shook his head. Grabbing hold of his keys and bag, deciding to call it a day and made his way to the parking lot.

Following the GPS, he arrived at what appeared to be his destination. A high rise glass apartment complex with a rich marble cream-colored interior.

Making his way to the elevator, he pressed the button for the penthouse and immediately found the door.

Looking down at the address on the page ensuring he was in the right place before ringing the doorbell and stood to wait. Looking around him at the expensive interior of the hallway before the door opened to show the other guy, whom Maverick assumed was Leonardo.

“Yes?”

“Uh…is Victoria here?”

“You a friend of hers?”

“Uh…yeah…I guess so,”

“Come on in,” Leonardo gestured him in as Maverick faltered in the doorway, having planned to simply drop off the planner and leave, but now found himself in her entrance. The door closed behind him with a digital keyboard on top of the handle and a hallway stretching out.

Making his way further in, he froze in the middle and turned to stare at the picture gallery on the wall, depicting different scenes of Victoria’s family, or of her with a variety of men and women, unable to stop himself from smiling at the sheer amount of joy and glee in the photos.

“Professor,” Victoria’s voice called in surprise.

“Oh, Victoria,” Maverick turned, about to tell her that she had forgotten her planner in his office but his words faltered and cheeks heated when he found her standing before him in a baby pink silk romper with spaghetti straps and a V-neck and that reached till the top of her thighs. 

Scratching at his neck, he lowered his gaze and shuffled in his place, ignorant to the smirk on Victoria’s face at his discomfort, watching him tense as she made her way towards him.

“I don’t recall ever giving you my address, professor,” She teased as Maverick shuffled back, the girl close enough for him not only to feel her warmth but also smell her intoxicating perfume.

“No, it was on your planner,” He held it out to her, looking everywhere but at her. “You forgot it in my office,”

“Professor,” A loud voice boomed as the man jumped back, looking up to find Fredrico glaring at him from over Victoria's head, holding open a silk robe as she pulled it on. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

“Oh, I just came to drop off her planner, that’s all,”

“Thank you, now have a good night,” He began to make his way to the door, holding it open for the man.

“Come now, Fredrico,” Victoria chuckled. “I was about to ask the Professor to stay for dinner,”

“Oh! I couldn’t,” Maverick’s eyes widened and he shook his head at Victoria, fearing the guard behind him would snap his neck in his beefy hands. “I have to get home.”

“Yes, he needs to get home,”

“Nonsense,” She waved dismissively. “You can spare thirty minutes to eat a home-cooked meal rather than those yucky take-outs, and besides, Leonardo has made his special spaghetti Carbonara,”

“Uh…” Maverick turned to look at the burly man looming over him and swallowed.

“Just come on,” Victoria rolled her eyes and grabbed hold of his wrist, dragging him further into her home and towards the large windows, leading the way out to the patio before she turned to say something over her shoulder at the guards, the glass door closing shut behind her. “Go on, take a seat,” She gestured to the round table.

The professor stood marveling at the Boston view in front of him, the smell of flowers heavy in the air and fairy lights decorating every railing, twinkling like stars.

Settling down at the round table, Victoria joined him and leaned back in her seat, smiling to herself when the food arrived and they both dug in. They talked about mundane things like the classes and Victoria asked how he was settling into his new job, both of them cracking jokes and laughing over glasses of wine, neither ignorant to the looming figure of Fredrico glaring at Maverick from the other side of the windowpane.

“He doesn’t seem to like me very much,” Maverick noted, cocking his head in the direction of the man.

“Oh don’t take it personally, he doesn’t like anyone,”

“He cares about you, though,”

“That’s because he’s been assigned to me since I was born,”

“What?” Maverick choked on his wine, staring at her awe. “You’ve known him your entire life?”

“Yes, sir,” She nodded with a chuckle, the wind blowing at her hair as she attempted to settle it. “He’s been with me through my school years, and rebellious teens, and watched me settle down into the person I am today,”

“And the other guy?”

“Oh he’s not as old as Fredrico,” Victoria waved dismissively. “He’s been with me for…twelve years I think,”

“What happened to his predecessor?” Maverick grasped for straws to keep her talking, marveling at how gentle her features looked and how soft she was in a familiar safe setting and her hair open,  the moonlight causing her eyes to sparkle a vibrant silver.

“He resigned of old age,” Victoria shrugged, another gust of wind blew at her hair, causing her to chuckle when it came on her face.

Without thinking, Maverick leaned forward and tucked her hair behind her ears, his hands warm against her cold cheeks as she looked up at him with wide round eyes, lips slightly parted. The professor smiling at the innocent expression.

“Time for you to leave,” Fredrico appeared beside the table, grabbing hold of Maverick’s shoulder and all but dragged him out of his chair and through the interior before sending him staggering out the door, shutting it in his face. Leaving the man to stand there in a daze as to what just happened before he looked down at his hands, mouth opening to realize he had just been cupping Victoria’s soft skin in his palms.

“Why did you do that?” Victoria asked her guard calmly, sipping the wine beside her with her gaze at the Boston horizon.

“He can’t touch you like that after hurting you,” The guard growled behind her, arms crossed over his chest, anger bubbling under his skin.

“He’s apologized for that, Fredrico,”

“I don’t care, that American coglione better stay away from you and you should keep your relationship with him strictly professional,”

“I don’t think you’re in the position to decide that for me,” Victoria swirled the remainder of her drink in the goblet, watching the movement of the liquid before downing it in one gulp.

“I may not be, but you can see that I am right,”

“I never said you were,”

“You never denied it either,”

“I guess we’ll have to see,” Victoria shrugged and got up from her place, making her way back inside.

“I’ve been watching over you your entire life, Victoria,” Fredrico stopped her. “My job is to protect you, even if it is from bad decisions in the form of your professor,