MY DANGEROUS PROFESSOR

Chapter 5: ADRIAN’S POV

I sat in the VIP booth with my whiskey, watching the crowd below. To most people, Vibe was just another loud club filled with flashing lights, expensive drinks, and people looking for a good time. To me, it was simply neutral territory, I could conduct business here without attracting attention while my men kept watch over every entrance.

"The shipping routes along the northern border are completely secured, Boss," Marco said quietly, leaning down near my ear so his voice wouldn't carry past our corner of the booth. "The local crews have fallen into line as requested. However, the secondary supply chain moving through the docks is still experiencing friction from the local authorities—"

"Deal with it. “I cut him off, my voice flat. There was nothing more to discuss.

"Understood," Marco nodded and shifted his stance. "Also, the final arrangements for your secondary identity have been locked in. You are set to resume as a professor next month at the university. Everything has been cleared with the board. You will be teaching Biology. Your credentials and schedule are all in place. No one should suspect a thing.

"Good," I replied quietly. A clean, respectable academic front was the perfect shield to keep the federal authorities off my back while I expanded the Northern empire.

I barely heard him anymore. My attention had shifted downstairs twenty minutes ago.To her.

She had walked into the lower VIP section with four friends, laughing and drinking like she hadn't a care in the world. But I could tell she'd been crying. Her eyes were slightly swollen, and no amount of makeup could completely hide it.

But there was something else in her eyes too. She looked hurt, but she wasn't sitting around feeling sorry for herself. There was something reckless about her.

Marco kept talking, but I found myself watching her instead. She kept knocking back shots, one after another. By the fifth, her cheeks were flushed and she was laughing at everything.

She threw her head back and started singing along to the music, completely off-key. She didn't seem to care who was watching. She moved like she didn't have a care in the world. It was nothing like the careful, guarded people I dealt with every day.

And then, she stood up, slammed her empty glass onto the table, and declared to her entire table and anyone else listening that men were officially dead to her.

I smiled. Men were dead to her? Interesting.

The women around me were usually careful. They knew who I was, and they knew better than to act recklessly around me. But this girl was different. She was drunk, heartbroken, and apparently had no idea whose booth she was walking toward.

I found myself wondering what had happened to her. What kind of man had made her swear off all of us?

"Boss?" Marco paused, catching the subtle shift in my posture. "Should I send the enforcement team down to the docks tonight to handle the dispute?"

"Hold," I commanded quietly, my gaze tracking her every move through the dancing crowd.

Below us, her friends spun an empty green glass bottle on their table. It whirled around before pointing straight at her chest. A second later, one of her female friends glanced up toward my elevated, shadow-draped booth, whispering something into her ear with a mischievous grin.

I leaned back into the leather sofa and took another sip of whiskey. Then I watched her realize what her friends were daring her to do. To my surprise, she actually went for it.

She kicked off her heels right in the middle of the floor, abandoning them on the tile without a second thought. She grabbed a fresh glass of red wine, adjusted her tight black dress, and began marching straight up the private stairs toward my section barefoot, drunk, and apparently serious about the dare.

Marco and my other guards immediately stiffened, their hands moving instinctively toward their weapons ready to attack.”

"Boss," Marco warned, stepping forward to block the top of the stairwell. “She’s coming up."

I raised two fingers.

“Let her through.”

Marco blinked in genuine shock, but he immediately stepped back, signaling the rest of the armed guards to hold their positions.

I watched her wobble up the carpeted stairs, her pale, bare feet sinking into the plush. She walked straight past my men without giving them a second glance. She had no idea who she was approaching or how dangerous the people around me were. She didn’t know that every single man standing in this booth could end a human life without blinking an eye. Either she didn't notice the weapons, or she was too drunk to care.

She stopped right at the edge of my table, swaying slightly on her feet. The deep red wine sloshed dangerously close to the rim when she hiccupped, but she didn't seem to care.

Up close, she was even more beautiful. I could smell the tequila on her breath. Her dark hair had fallen messily around her shoulders, and her eyes were glossy from the alcohol.

She leaned right over my private table, resting her weight on her elbows and giving me a crooked, drunken smile.”

"Hey there, stranger," she giggled, her voice soft, slurred, and entirely unbothered by the sudden silence around us. "Are you always this handsome and grumpy, or am I just that special?"

I set my whiskey glass down and studied her face for a moment. What the hell had possessed her to walk into my booth like this? A small smile pulled at my lips. I had no idea who this woman was, but suddenly, I wanted to know what she would do next.