Chapter 12

Caelum's POV

Kent slammed the file down on my desk incautiously.

"The men last night were novices," he said and disgust was in his voice. “Street muscle from some gang Nikolai has working for him. They weren't even armed properly.”

I flipped through the file. Pictures of the two men. Background checks. A mile long rap sheet but nothing cunning. That such inertia would fall to thugs willing to take any job if paid enough.

“He was experimenting,” I muttered.

"Testing what?"

"How far I'd go for her. How compromised I am." I closed the folder. "He got his answer."

Kent joined me, and sat across from me looking grim. "This is bad, boss. Nikolai knows about the girl. He knows she matters to you. That makes her a target."

"I'm aware."

"Are you? From my vantage point, you’re thinking with your dick instead of your brain.”

I looked at him sharply. Kent had been with me for 15 years. Owned the privilege of speaking without a filter. But there were limits.

"Careful," I warned.

He didn't back down. "Someone needs to say it. You're compromised. You have a college student caught up in the mafia because you didn’t stay away. And now Nikolai’s going to use her to ruin you.”

I fisted my hand on the desk. "What do you suggest?"

"Move her. Witness protection type situation. New identity, new city. She vanishes before it goes any further.”

"She'd never forgive me."

“I’m better alive and grumpy than not alive.”

The words hung in the air. He was right. It was smart play, from a logical and strategic standpoint to get Celine somewhere safe.

But I couldn't do it. Could not imprison her, erase her life, disappear her. She'd hate me. And on top of that, she would be alone. Scared. Separated from everything she knew.

I rose suddenly and went to the window. I had an office that looked out over the campus quad. Students moved between buildings, laughing and talking and leading normal lives.

Celine was out there somewhere. Going to class. Pretending last night didn't happen.

"Keep her covered," I commanded. "Double shifts. I want to know everything about everywhere she goes, everyone she talks to.”

"Boss—"

"That's final, Kent."

He sighed but nodded. "You're making a mistake."

"Probably."

He went off and I stood alone looking out over the campus. My knuckles throbbed. I checked out my hands, which formed bruises. Evidence of last night's violence.

I should feel guilty. But I was supposed to feel something other than satisfaction every time I remembered the sound of bones cracking under my fists.

But all I felt was a wash of relief that Celine was unharmed.

I was losing myself. The loss of the careful control that had kept me alive for most of my life.

And I couldn't seem to stop.

\---

The atmosphere in the lecture hall was wrong today. Too bright. Too full. Too normal.

I was at the front, standing there and teaching the motions. Discussing stellar evolution, the stages in the life of a star. My voice was steady, professional. But inside, I was fracturing.

Celine sat in the back. She had picked a seat no where near her usual spot, and none else around. She scribbled notes automatically, her expression blank.

She wouldn't look at me.

I looked ahead, keeping up the facade of normalcy. But to me it felt like a blow, physically.

The lecture ended. Students poured out, chatting about weekend plans. I took my time with my bag and waited.

Celine bundled her things together ready to leave with the rest of them.

"Miss Moretti. A moment, please."

She froze. For a moment I thought she would ignore me. Just walk away like I didn't say anything.

But she waited. Let the other students leave. Then looked at me and turned away with cold, empty eyes.

"Yes, Professor?"

The formality stung.

I climbed off the stage and approached her. Not too close. Near enough to whisperies.

“What you witnessed last night,” I replied, my words measured. “I want you to believe I shielded you,” she wrote.

She laughed. It was a sharp, bitter sound that didn’t suit her mouth.

"Trust? You locked me in a room."

"Don't you think it be better if I allowed you to sink or swim?"

“I’d prefer you to tell me the truth.”

The truth. What she was asking for, she had no idea. The truth would destroy her. Would drag her so far into my world she'd never escape.

"Some truths are dangerous, Celine."

"More dangerous than being attacked? Than being locked up? Having my professor turn out to be a —” She cut herself off, gritting her teeth.

"To be what?" I asked quietly.

She met my eyes. There was fear there, yes. But also anger. Determination. She knew something. Had figured something out.

"Nothing," she said. "Forget it."

She turned to leave.

"Celine."

She paused but did not look back.

"If you need anything. “If you’re afraid, or threatened, or in danger. Call me."

"Why would I need you?" Her voice was cold. "You said it yourself. Some truths are too dangerous. Maybe that includes you."

Then she shut off the screen and walked out, leaving me standing there alone in the empty lecture hall.

I wanted to follow her. Wanted to shake her and make her see that even though I was doing a poor job of it, I really was trying to protect her.

Yet I just stood there, frozen, as she vanished through the door.

My phone buzzed. A text from my tech dude, Marcus.

"Problem. Last night, someone sent the girl security footage. She responded. Meet at midnight at the old library.”

My blood turned to ice.

I called him immediately. "Who sent it?"

"Tracing the IP now. Give me five minutes."

I paced the lecture hall, adrenaline churning through me. Someone was contacting Celine. Using footage from last night. Setting up a meeting.

This was a trap. Had to be.

Marcus called back. "Got it. IP resolves to campus housing. Specifically, to Amaya Laurent's room."

I felt his name in my gut like a punch.

Laurent. Isabelle's last name.

"Run a full background check. Now."

"Already on it. Boss, this is bad. Amaya Laurent is Amaya Volkov. Nikolai's niece. She used to have a different last name, when she started here."

It all fell into place with chilling clarity.

Amaya was not an ordinary student. She was Nikolai's spy. Planted here to watch me. And somehow she’d ended up close with Jason, who once dated Celine.

The university connection. The relationship. The fact that she was in my class that day.

It was all calculated.

This was something that Nikolai had been plotting for months. Maybe longer. And I’d been too stupid to notice.

“She knows who I am,” I murmured.

"Looks like it. And she’s using your girl as bait.”

My girl. Marcus wasn’t sure how true that was. How I’d gotten so possessive of someone I had no right to claim.

"Can you access Celine's laptop?" I asked.

"Already have remote access. She responded to the email at least twenty minutes ago. Agreed to meet at midnight."

I checked my watch. Four hours.

Four hours to stop her. Or to make use of her as bait and end this once and for all.

The smart move was obvious. Let Celine go to the meeting. Have my men waiting. Take Amaya, get some information, find out exactly what Nikolai was up to.

‘

Bait Celine and she wouldn’t even know it.

The thought made me sick.

But it would work. It would be to my benefit. I'd be able to control things instead of reacting to Nikolai's maneuvering.

"Boss? What do you want me to do?"

I gazed at my phone, with Celine’s position still pinging on the tracker. She was in her dorm. Perhaps preparing for the meeting. Going in there like that, because she had wanted answers I hadn't given ht org 830 Sunlight pushed between the living room curtains.

This was my fault. All of it.

“Station surveillance at the old library,” I said. "Full team. Roof snipers, men on the inside, perimeter defense. I want eyes from every entrance.”

"We snatching the Volkov girl, or what?"

For a long moment I did not answer.

Then, "No. We're protecting Celine. If Amaya shows, we watch. We listen. We learn what we can. But no one else moves unless she herself is threatened, Celine. Understood?"

"Understood."

I put down the phone and slumped into my chair in that empty lecture hall, hands in my hair.

I was going to use her. I was going to let her walk into danger for my own convenience.

What did that make me?

The same monster she probably already realized I was.

But at least she’d be alive when this was finished.

That had to be enough.