Page 273 of In Love with a Cruel Billionaire

Her

DIANA WAS STILL TREMBLING.

A minute had already passed since the professor not-so-subtly demanded she quit his class, and she wasn't fully able to get past the shock of it. One thing was for sure though. It was definitely no longer accurate to think of him as Mr. Still Furious. Rather, he seemed more likeMr. Furious Only With Her, and it was as confusing as it was painful.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Leventis," the professor's secretary apologized in mortified tones.

"I just don't get why he's so mad at me," Diana confessed helplessly. "And if he would just let me explain..."

The older woman hesitated. "You still could..." She inclined her head towards the professor's office. "You heard what he said. I'm supposed to clear the rest of his day."

Diana gnawed uncertainly on her lip, feeling like she was being asked to walk willingly into the lion's den. Which she supposed she could if, that was, she had the spirit of the prophet Daniel inside of her, granting Diana the strength to tame thebeastprofessor.

Ifthat were the case, then what Mrs. Montez was asking of her wouldn't have been a problem.

But since she was miserably convinced it wasn't so, she had a feeling she'd end up no different from a sacrificial lamb and get slaughtered in seconds.

"The professor isn't the type to bluff," the other woman went on to add seriously. "He has the ability to make the rest of the semester extremely unpleasant for you, Ms. Leventis." Mrs. Montez inclined her head towards the professor's office once more. "So if you are truly set on having him as your adviser..."

And that was how Diana found herself doing what she thought herself incapable of doing. An act of courage, when all her life her own mother had made her feel like a spineless, gutless, good-for-nothing daughter.

Her fingers trembled as she reached for the knob, and her knees threatened to give out as she stepped inside the professor's office. The silence overwhelmed her, and she found herself praying for strength as her heart raced in terror.

Saint M, look after me.

Diana let the door fall shut behind her even as she battled against the wave of paranoia threatening to drown her. Why was it sosilent? Shouldn't the professor be snarling at her by now. or could he still be unaware of her presence?

Another unbidden memory invaded her mind, reminding her of the countless times her mother had demanded she wear more jewelry and less clothes.

It's the only way you'll get people to notice you. If not for being an heiress, you'd be nothing and always will—-

Diana's fists clenched involuntarily against her side as she shoved the thought away. She rarely thought of Esther Leventis these days, but it sadly made sense that she would suddenly start recalling the worst memories of her childhood. Anger and disappointment were the two only emotions Diana had inspired in her mother, and Professor Matthijs de Graaf kind of...

Oh! Right!

Cheeks turning red when she realized she had actually forgotten where she was and what she had come here for, Diana quickly lifted her head, intending to apologize, but then she saw...

She saw.

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