STELLA

The next day, I wake up a little late, the dress I am wearing brings back the memories of the things that happened the night before, and I shake my head inwardly to banish those thoughts.

I have to get ready for school and I can't afford to be distracted.

With the way I left Papa's office yesterday, I know this is far from over, but I can't risk going to school and facing Vivian with a worried look.

Vivian is my best friend. We met on the first day of senior year and have been friends since then. She keeps saying she doesn't care about people, but she is always the first person to notice when something is wrong.

I head downstairs and avoid the breakfast table because I really can't stand Papa right now.

I am not avoiding him or anything, I just don't want to see him.

Now if I could just walk out the door without–

“Stellochka?” a voice startles me. Marina, of course

“Marina…!” I say, turning around, plastering on a fake smile.

“Where are you sneaking off to?”

“What? Sneaking off? Me? No..”

She raises her eyebrow in a ‘really?’ way.

“I'm going to school” I say, throwing my hands in the air.

“Just so we're clear, I don't believe you” She says, and turns to leave.

“Bye!” I say while dashing out of the house.

When I get outside, I hop inside my Tesla and drive out of the compound as fast as I can.

Again, I am not avoiding Papa

———

I walk into the hell hole, AKA my school. I spot Vivian at the far end of the school hallway and I pick up my pace so I can catch up with her.

“Hi princess”, a deep, familiar voice whispers really close to my ear, and I stop in my tracks. I whirl around and all I can see are broad shoulders in a black shirt. Ugh! Tall people.

I am not short in any sense of the world. Some people are just too tall.

On looking up, my emerald green eyes are met with a pair of blue ones. Nikolai?. What is he doing here?. Last I checked, I'd never seen him before last night.

“Hi, Nikolai right?” I ask.

“The one and only” he says while putting his hands on my shoulder.

“I know you must be wondering what a charming and irresistible guy like me is doing in this hellhole called a school”

Well, would you look at that, I'm not the only one who thinks schools are hell holes.

“I really couldn't care less” I lie through my teeth. I really want to know why he's here.

“To clear the air and put you out of your misery, I transferred”

“What?”

“Yes, I transferred”

“Why?”

“Someone's gotta keep an eye on your Prince Charming”

“Who's..?” Oh, Viktor.

“He is not my Prince Charming, if anything, he's a black Knight”

He raises his shoulder. “If you say so”.

I don't bother asking him how they pulled off the transfer in such a short time because I already know the answer to that. Anything can be achieved with the right amount of money.

So if he is here, Viktor is definitely somewhere around.

“Are you looking for him?”

That's when I realised that I was subconsciously looking around.

“No!” I say in a raised tone, trying to convince myself that I was not, in fact, looking for him.

“He's over there”, he says anyway, jutting his chin in a direction, and I follow his gaze.

My eyes come in contact with a pair of cobalt blue ones and I stand there, rooted in place and subject to his gaze.

He's glaring at me like I did something unforgivable, whereas I should be the one angry at him, and everyone else for that matter. He must have known about the marriage contract and didn't even bother to tell me. Not like I expected him to, yesterday was the closest I had gotten to him in all the years I knew he existed.

He's wearing a black, short-sleeved shirt that moulds into his muscles and a pair of combat trousers. How can someone be so attractive and an asshole at the same time?.

Did I mention that he has a way of making people want to run away and hide just with a mere look?.

But that doesn't scare me, I know it's just a ploy to have the upper hand and make people scared. No doubt the Russian bratva is in good hands.

“You can stop eye fucking him now” Nikolai's voice snaps me out of the trance Viktor had me locked in.

“I wasn't eye fucking him” I say defensively.

“Please, you were ready to jump him”

“No, I wasn't”

“Yes, you were”

“You seem more pleasant to be around” I say in a bid to change the subject.

“I know, so you can choose to marry me instead of my boring cousin” he says.

I narrow my eyes at him.

“Funny, I gotta get to class” I say, taking his hand off my shoulder and walking toward the class. I glance at the place Viktor stood and realise he's not standing there anymore.

“I'll catch you later!” Nikolai says from behind me.

“Yh, sure”

On entering the class, I notice that neither Viktor is not yet in class and neither is Landon. Also, the teacher has not yet entered the class.

I walk to the back of the class where Vivian is already seated. She's not much of a front-seat person, and neither am I.

“Hi Viv” I say to her, smiling. Vivian is one of the few people who have ever gotten a genuine smile from me. Trust me, their rare as hell.

“What's up?” she says, still facing her phone.

“You know, the usual”

She raises her head and her brown eyes finally meet mine.

She narrows her eyes at me. God, I hope she didn't gain psychic abilities overnight.

“Why did it take you so long to get here?” she asks, facing her phone, to continue reading a manga for sure.

“I was um..Parking” I lie.

“I saw you in the hallway earlier”

Of course she did.

“Oh, I..was..saying hello to my new friend”

She stops reading and faces me.

“New friend?”

“Yh!”

“And what is this new friend's name?”

“Nikolai, he's Viktor Morozov's cousin”

“And you became friends when?”

“Today”

“You met someone just today and you're already friends?”

“Yeah, the guy is pretty cool”

“Hmm” hmm?

Before I can ask her what hmm means, the teacher enters followed by Viktor, Landon and Nikolai.

“Sorry for my tardiness guys” the teacher, Mrs. Sloane says.

“If you haven't noticed, we have a new student” she continues

“Mr. Morozov just transferred, pls make him feel welcomed”

I am no longer paying attention to the teacher, all my focus is on Viktor who is making his way to the back of the class. He doesn't sit in the back.

He stops at the seat next to me which is already occupied. “Get up” he orders the occupant. The boy doesn't comply, probably confused.

“Am I to repeat myself?”

“No,” the boy says, standing up and moving to another seat.

Viktor flops down on the seat and I look away from him. My insides are heating up and I feel the blush rising to my neck and cheeks.

I try to take my mind off him by talking to Vivian. But before I can say a word, a deep husky voice says”Hi Emerald”. I turn around to face him. Holy shit. Is that his voice?

Also whose Emerald?

Oh

The same deep voice comes again, “you're gonna do something for me”

I squint my eyes.

“What?”