Page 43 of My Forbidden Professor

Oh God. Jacob. Jacob’s going to know who I am. If he doesn’t already know, he will soon. I swallow down the sharp tang of bile.

“Once Dad’s back from his honeymoon, I’ll start putting in the good word about you, setting things up slowly.” My voice is paper-thin to my own ears, the lie tasting like ash on my tongue.

“No games, Stephanie!” The thunderous snarl on the other end makes me flinch. “You make this happen now, or so help me God, I’ll start uploading those other little homemade video clips I have for the world to see.”

A strangled sound catches in my throat as icy dread clenches my heart. “You bastard,” I choke out, scalding tears pricking the corners of my eyes. “We were just kids then, you sick, depraved—”

“Can it, Princess!” Daniel’s acidic growl cuts me off mercilessly. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about the gory details, I just want what’s owed to me. And unless you plan on groveling at my feet and begging forgiveness...” A pause, then a dark chuckle laced with pure menace. “Well, you’ll get yours soon enough.”

Another horrifying thought lashes through me. I haven’t seen it until now, but the truth stands out like a giant red flag. “You don’t want me back…”

“You can wrap those sweet lips around my cock any day,” he says.

I slam my fingers over my mouth. “No, Daniel. No.”

“You’ll pay me either way. You can pay with money or your cunt. The choice is yours,” he snarls.

Choice? He thinks that’s a choice?

My panicked brain works overtime trying to find a solution, a lifeline before his threats escalate. “I gave you what I had.”

“You can always ask your boyfriend for more. If you can’t find a way, he certainly did,” Daniel says.

My blood ices. I force stiff words from my mouth. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Unless...my spiraling thoughts catch on a possibility so preposterous, so utterly depraved that I immediately recoil in horror. No, I can’t...he wouldn’t...there’s no way Daniel could know but— fragments link up. There’s a reason Daniel hasn’t hounded me for a few days. So unlike him. When he wants money, he usually doesn’t let up until he gets it.

“Oh, I can hear those pretty little gears turning in that head of yours, Princess.” The vile sneer in Daniel’s tone makes me physically recoil. “How about you ask that handsome professor of yours to cover the costs, hmm? I’m sure he’d be happy to dig into his pockets if anyone should find out about your dirty little secret...Not that he hasn’t helped me before.”

A tremulous breath shudders out of me as the phone line goes chillingly silent. Because Daniel’s words have taken on a whole new, infinitely more sinister meaning that I’m utterly powerless against.

My cell pings again. I open a photo to see Jacob and me in his lecture room. The photo has been taken through a crack in the door. We’re blurred but there’s no mistaking what we’re doing. I’m bent over the podium, my head back, mouth open as Jacob fills me from behind. His eyes are closed, ecstasy tensing his face as his fingers grip my hips.

Is that what we look like?

“You should really be more careful who you fuck, Steph.”

“What do you mean ‘not like he hasn’t helped me before’,” I snap, ignoring his jab.

Daniel chuckles. “I see I’ve intruded in your personal life. You two should work on your communication skills. I want another five grand in my account by tonight. If I don’t get it, I’ll release another photo. And another. And another…until it’s paid. Good to have you back on campus, Steph.”

Chapter Nineteen

Steph

Jacob knows about me?

Jacob paid Daniel?

How did he know?

When did this happen?

How much does he know?

Jacob never said a word. Not one syllable. Thoughts split my head but no answers magically appear through the thick, dark dread.

I thought Daniel had given up when I refused to pay him last time, but I should have known better. I’m delusional. Head-in-the-sand delusional. Daniel doesn’t give up.

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