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The guy looked muscular, but not too much and definitely tall the way he was looking down at me from across the table.

I watched as his grin grew wider and realized I had been caught checking him out and quickly averted my gaze as I cleared my throat and sat up straighter.

"Yes, I'm her." I said and looked back up at the guy who was still grinning at me, so I smiled at him as well.

"Oh thank god! I've been looking everywhere for you." He said chuckling nervously as he ran a hand through his hair, my eyes following his movements.

Wow.

"Professor Mathews sent me. I'm uh... new here." He said scratching the back of his head nervously as his eyes came back to me and I snapped out of whatever daze I was in and stood up from my seat.

"So you're the new guy I've heard so much about?" I asked him smiling and saw him grin.

"Yeah, that would be me." He said chuckling as he set his bag on a chair.

"I uh.. needed some help and the notes done till now, if that's possible." He asked me.

"Oh of course, I have them now if you want them?" I asked him fumbling through my bag when I saw him nod.

"That'd be great yeah." He replied as I handed him my notes.

"You can get them photocopied from campus or any where else if you prefer." I told him as he gave me an appreciative smile.

My god his smile.

"Of course, thanks." He said while putting the notes in his bag.

"Also, I heard you were tutoring?" He asked more than stated.

"Yeah, Fridays and Saturdays." I confirmed.

"Okay that's good. And uh... I wanted to ask if I could maybe get some extra help? If that's okay with you, obviously." He rambled, making me grin widely at him.

Cute.

"Of course, I come to the library at this time everyday and stay here for an hour or maybe more sometimes, you're welcome to come any time." I assured him, making him relax and smile.

"Okay thanks so much."

"It's no problem uh..." I smiled sheepishly as I looked at him realizing I hadn't even asked for his name.

How nice of me.

"Right, I'm Chase. Chase Lockwood." He replied grinning, making me swoon.

Even his name's hot.

"Alright then Chase. Would you like to go over some things now to see where you're standing? If you're free that is." I asked him.

"Of course, that'd be great. Can I sit here?" He asked pointing to a seat in front of me and I nodded with a smile as I sat back in my seat, only realizing the Italian who had watched the whole exchange with rapt attention.

Chase followed my gaze and furrowed his eyebrows as he scanned the man next to me carefully.

"Roman." I called out, his head snapping to me as he looked into my eyes and only then did I notice his clenched jaw.

"Can you leave now? I'm a bit busy." I said tapping my foot impatiently when he raised an eyebrow at me.

"No." His answer was curt, and made me sigh heavily.

"Please, Roman." I pleaded, hoping he'd leave but he clearly had other plans when he leaned towards me, my breath hitching at the close proximity.

"One condition." He said, his eyes searching mine.

"What?" I asked him breathlessly as his lips twitched slightly when he leaned back, making me miss his scent.

"I'll sit at the next table." He said, making me nod slowly before I frowned.

"I'm sensing a but." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"But, you have to do something for me." He concluded with a smirk.

"Okay... What do you want?" I asked him and furrowed my eyebrows when he pointed to his cheek.

"What does that mea-... seriously?" I muttered, making him nod once as I rolled my eyes and leaned forward, pressing my lips to his cheek, his light stubble tickling me as I lingered for a few seconds before pulling away, my heart erratic.

I saw the hint of a smile on his lips before it was gone as he got up from his seat and true to his word, he went and sat on another table with his eyes on me. I averted my gaze from him and offered Chase a smile as he sat in front of me and took out his books.

I ignored the prickling feeling on my face knowing full well who was watching me as I studied with Chase, and soon forgot about the man staring at me and rather got engrossed so much in studying I didn't notice as an hour passed by.

"Thea?" I heard Zephyr's voice and frowned before looking up to see him watching me and Chase and then Roman who was leaning back in his seat with his feet on a chair.

"Oh for the love of god, why is he here?" He said gesturing to Roman as I shrugged.

"Wasn't me, I swear, he just showed up." I said surrendering my hands as Zephyr ran a hand through his hair before smirking at Chase.

"Chase. Never thought I'd see you in a library." He said smirking as Chase got up and they both did a 'bro hug'.

"Yeah well, got to catch up." He said before looking at me, and then Zephyr.

"You guys know each other? Oh wait, are you her boyfriend?" He asked grinning, making me fake gag as Zephyr put an arm around my shoulder.

"Oh she wishes." Zephyr winked at me, making me scoff and roll my eyes as I shrugged his arm off of my shoulder.

"Shut up Zephy baby. He's my cousin." I said smiling at Chase who burst out laughing.

"Zephy baby? Really?" He said laughing when Zephyr rolled his eyes playfully.

"Yeah, a stupid nickname. But I think Heathy baby's nice, no?" Zephyr asked me smiling cheekily as I swatted his arm playfully and scowled.

"Shut up. Are we leaving now?" I asked him and saw him scratch the back of his neck.

"Yeah, that's the thing, I have another class so I don't think I'll be able to take you." He said sheepishly as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'd gladly go home because I'm pissed at Alex for the stunt he pulled last night, but I know that wont end well so I have to go." I said frowning when last night's events came rushing back to me.

"I'll take her. I was heading there anyway." Roman suddenly spoke, making us all look at him.

"Okay great, I'm off now. Bye Heathy baby!" Zephyr said in a sing-song voice and ran away, leaving me frowning.

"Since you're leaving, I guess I'll go too. See you tomorrow?" Chase looked at me smiling as I gave him a nod.

"Sure. Bye." I waved at him as he grabbed his bag and walked out the library, leaving me alone with Roman.

"Shall we?" I asked him cheekily as I approached him, making him smirk as he stood up.

"We shall." He drawled out, leading me out of the library and towards his car with his hand on the small of my back. He opened the passenger door for me and I sat in, buckling my seatbelt as he came in and started the car and drove off.

I looked out the window and watched as the college became smaller in the distance and nearly flinched when I felt a warm hand on my bare thigh, but didn't make any move to remove the tattooed hand which sent jolts of electricity through my body.

But when the office building came into view, my jaw clenched tightly and my hands formed into fists as anger rose within me when I thought of facing my brother.

And boy was I going to give him hell.

When we entered the building, all eyes snapped to us and it seemed like everyone had frozen over or something.

"These shorts are too short, don't you think?" Roman's voice rang in my ears, making me frown when I looked up at him and then at my shorts and...

Oh god.

They really were short and definitely not appropriate for wearing in the office. I bit the inside of my cheek and shrugged.

"I don't care." I replied lazily, making Roman smirk as he put his hand on my back and started walking towards the elevators.

When we reached the top floor, we were greeted by the Lucas and then Nate, who smiled widely when he saw me.

"Thea, so good to see you." He said hugging me and I hugged him back.

"You too Nate. How's everything going?" I asked him smiling.

"Good, great. You?" He asked me, making me shrug.

"Same old." I replied when Lucas came walking up to me.

"Mr. Elias will see you both now." He told me and Roman.

"Okay, thank you. I'll see you later Nate." I waved at him before being led by Roman towards the office. Once we entered, my eyes fell on my brother talking to Ivan and Nikolai while my uncles Mikhail and Karl were talking to Enzo and Gabriel.

"Thea darling, good to see you again." Uncle Karl came up to me and gave me a big hug and Uncle Mikhail patted my back.

"How was college?" Nikolai asked me, making me shrug.

"The same." I replied curtly and watched as he nodded before glancing at Alex briefly. My eyes also went to Alex who was watching me intently with a cold expression on his face, dark circles under his bright blue eyes.

Looks like I'm not the only one sleep deprived.

"Right, now that we're all here, let's get started, shall we?" Uncle Mikhail broke the tense silence as I nodded at him and sat in my seat next to Ivan, but refused to look at him or Alex for that matter.

"So we've found that the gangs..." Uncle Mikhail's started but I blocked everything out and zoned out, not caring about how important or unimportant the meeting was or the gangs who were trying to create problems. That is, until my name was called out.

I felt a warm hand placed on mine and immediately flinched as my narrowed eyes went to the person who had touched me, making me scowl.

"Don't fucking touch me." I hissed at him, looking into his stormy grey eyes as he frowned.

"Thea sweetheart is everything okay?" Uncle Karl called out to me and I looked in his direction, not failing to notice the glare being sent my way by Alex.

"I'm fine." I replied firmly and saw my uncle regard me closely before he nodded.

"Apologize." Alex's voice came suddenly, making me look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Apologize? To whom?" I asked, making him narrow his eyes at me as he glared daggers in my direction.

"You know who." He gritted out as I leaned back in my seat.

"No thank you." I replied looking at my nails when suddenly Alex slammed his hand on the table and shot out of his seat, making me flinch.

"I've had enough of your bratty attitude!" He snapped, making me glare at him as I also stood up to face him.

"And I've had enough of your attitude, so tone it down would you?" I glared at him and saw him clench his fists and close his eyes in frustration before opening them again and looking at me.

"You think you can do anything you want? You think you can go behind my back and do whatever you feel like doing? Well you can't!" He boomed, making me frown.

"I can do anything I want because it's my life!" I snapped at him.

"And you are my responsibility!" He yelled, making me back away a step and scoff.

"Then get rid of me if I'm such a burden to you since you clearly love controlling everyone." I stated.

"I will do whatever I want and you will be a good girl like you always were and sit your ass down and let me do my job." He hissed, making me scoff at him.

"Good girl my ass. I'm leaving." I said and turned around to leave but Alex's voice made me stop in my tracks.

"You think I don't know you attended that dance class today?" He spoke, making me turn towards with a frown on my face as realization dawned on me.

"You've been spying on me." I stated and saw the smirk on Alex's face, making my scowl to deepen.

"How dare you?" I spoke quietly, unable to believe the amount of confidence my brother had in me. The amount of trust he had in me.

"Looks like it was a good decision to send my men to look out for you after all." He said lowly, making me look at him incredulously as I clapped my hands.

"Wow. Good job. Just great." I spat venomously.

"This is how much you trust me. Glad to know." I said nodding as he straightened up and Ivan stood from his seat.

"Glad to tell you." Alex said cockily, making me frown.

"Alex. Heather. We'll talk about this later." Ivan warned.

"No, I'd like to ask you something, Alexander." I spat and he seemed taken aback for a second because I used his full name after a long time.

"What do you see when you look at me. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear my name?" I asked him, making him frown slightly.

"What the hell does that mean?" He asked me, making me scoff at him.

"Tell me. When you see my face, do you think of our dead mother? Because I'm the spitting image of her? Or do you see him all bloody and bruised because of me? Tell me, what the fuck do you see? Because it's clearly my fault half our family's dead." I said with poison laced in my voice.

"Is that why you're trying to control me? Because you don't have anyone else left to control? Or because you loath me so much that you're doing everything in your power to take away everything I love?" I spoke, feeling my eyes sting from unshed tears as Alex released a frustrated breath.

"You don't know what you're saying." He spoke lowly, as if warning me not to continue.

"Oh I know everything Alexander." I spat at him, making him take a step towards me.

"Heather. You will shut your mouth if you know what's good for you." He warned me, making me scoff.

"Or what? You'll ship me off to god knows where so you won't have to deal with my 'bratty attitude'?" I snapped at him and then it was like everything happened in slow motion.

I saw the glint of a shiny metal and then a click that seemed to echo in my ears as I remembered the last time I was in a position like this and my blood ran cold, my eyes widening and a tear drop finally falling down.

"Dead. I see you dead." He growled lowly, his hand on the trigger as he pointed the gun to my face, making my breath hitch from the immense pain in my heart as I faltered a step and didn't hear everyone getting out of their seats suddenly and the numerous guns clicking.

And then an arm went around my waist and I was pressed against someone's front, the familiar smell invading my senses that calmed me down and reassured me that everything would be okay.

"Put the gun down." Roman growled, his own gun pointed towards Alex who seemed unfazed and looked into my eyes with such coldness as I looked at him back with equal intensity and then at the gun in his hand pointed at me.

"That's all I needed to know. Glad to find out what you think of me." I whispered.

"Because I'm done. With everything." I said and took the diamond ring off my finger and threw it on the floor before I was pulled out of the office by Roman.

"I only left for two days. But maybe what we needed was me to leave forever." I said looking back as realization suddenly seemed to cross his features.

The gun dropped out of his hand and fell on the floor with a thud, an expression close to pain crossing his face as he looked at my tear stained face before I was dragged away.

And it felt like my world had ended the moment my own brother pointed his gun at me.