Page 3 of Vengeful Princess

“Thea Ricci,” Torrance grunted before handing over some paperwork. The man scanned it and then passed him a laminated lanyard and a folder.

“One of the student guides will show you to your room, Miss Ricci. Our porters will assist with your luggage. All the information you need is in the welcome pack. Have a nice day!”

He stepped back and waved us forward. Torrance shoved the info pack and lanyard at me and moved on to the unloading area. The porter who swaggered up soon lost his smile when Torrance growled at him for stepping too close to the car. Torrance muttered an insult in Italian and the poor man shuddered.

I didn’t bother smiling. What was the point? After the long flight and car drive, I was all out of sunny smiles.

The porter hefted my small suitcase and the holdall onto a luggage trolley. He started to walk away, and I was just about to follow him when Torrance grabbed my arm roughly.

“Don’t fuck this up, Thea,” he hissed in a low voice. “I’ll be watching you.”

“Oh? Are you taking an extended vacation here?” I asked. “I hear the whiskey distilleries are top-notch, and there are some lovely photogenic castles. A few nice landscape shots will do wonders for your social media accounts.”

Torrance ground his teeth in annoyance. A non-existent sense of humor was just one of his many personality defects.

“I’ll be tracking your progress. That’s all you need to know.”

Fuck. He must have installed spyware on the new phone and laptop my father magnanimously gave me. There went my privacy. At least until I could buy a new phone and laptop.

“Have a safe flight back,” I said with a saccharine-sweet smile. “It would be awful if the plane crashed.”

He clenched his fists and growled, but there was fuck-all he could do to beat the sass out of me. Not here, surrounded bystudents, parents, and staff. This place may be the go-to college of choice for kids with checkered pasts, but I doubted it would turn a blind eye to a guardian beating a student to death in front of the main entrance.

Still, if I was really lucky, Torrance would lose his shit and suffer a fatal brain embolism. A girl could dream.

A tall blond guy wearing a blazer and badge marking him as a student guide approached us as I picked up my backpack. He blatantly checked me out before smiling flirtatiously.

“I’m Landon Rothmore. You must be Thea Ricci?”

“Yep.” I smiled back awkwardly, aware that Torrance was still hovering like a bad smell.

Landon’s gaze flicked over Torrance briefly, but he didn’t seem intimidated by my father’s enforcer. Which was a surprise. Most people shit themselves when Torrance glared at them. Usually for good reason.

“If you’re ready to say goodbye to your, um, father, I’ll show you to your room.”

I snorted and turned to Torrance with a grin, knowing full well he’d be pissed at someone assuming I was his daughter. “Bye,Papa!”

Seeing the way he fought to contain his temper lifted my mood considerably, and a faint smile graced my lips as the golden boy led me toward the tower to the left of the main building.

Then I heard Torrance shout, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Verity is well taken care of!”

The blood froze in my veins, and for a moment, I contemplated pulling the knife I kept in a hidden sheath inside my jacket. A bullseye between the eyes and he’d be gone forever. Sure, I’d be arrested for murder, but it would be worth it.

Killing Torrance wouldn’t get rid of my father, though.

So I carried on walking and tried not to imagine all the horrible ways Torrance could hurt my defenseless sister.

My blond tour guide was ridiculously hot. The problem was, he knew he was hot. I wished I could say that was a massive turn off, but the flirty comments and appreciative looks were doing all kinds of unwelcome things to my equilibrium.

I wasn’t here to hook up with fuckboys like Landon Rothmore, even if his sexy Scottish accent made my toes curl. My father had made it very clear what he expected from me. And it didn’t involve falling into bed with the first pretty guy who smiled at me like I was a tasty snack.

Landon chatted cheerfully as he pointed out where the admin department was.

“So where are you from, Thea?”

“Europe.” Landon didn’t need to know my life story, even if he was the cutest boy I’d ever clapped eyes on.

“Whereabouts?”

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