Ruin Me: My Stepbrother, My Professor

Chapter 4: He Knew

MIYARA’S POV

“You okay? Isa leaned in, keeping her voice low. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as sweat tickled down my back. “You look pale”

Concern laced her voice. How could I tell her the man standing in front of the class was the one I hooked up with yesterday and my stepbrother? I had a bad memory but those eyes… they were etched in my memory. I was right all along when I felt there was something familiar about him.

“I’m fine”, I tore my gaze from him and took in a deep breath to calm myself. Isa’s eyes narrowed.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” I lied.

I was anything but fine right now. The hickey he left above my n****e still hurt. My cheeks heated up as a reminder of last night. I could still feel his eyes on me, making it difficult to focus. I clenched my thighs, in an attempt to ease the ache blooming there.

The marker scratched across the whiteboard.

Professor Caden Cross

My lungs forgot how to work.

Cross.

Still Cross.

Not Anderson. Of course, he’d never take Dad’s name. After what happened after Dad called him sick, after they dragged him out of our house and sent him to whatever place they send boys who mess with the wrong girls.

He wouldn’t touch that name with a ten-foot pole.

Those eyes lifted from the board and swept the room.

My heart slammed so hard I thought Isa could hear it.

Same eyes. Same sharp, dark gaze that used to pin me in place when I was fifteen and stupid enough to think he might actually like me back. The same ones that stared through the mask last night while his lips moved over my skin.

He stepped to the podium, shoulders set like he was bracing for something. The same jaw I’d traced with shaking fingers in the dark. The same lips that left the bruise still burning above my n****e.

“Good morning.” His voice rolled out low, controlled, deeper than I remembered from teenage summers, but the same quiet edge.

“I’m Professor Caden Cross. This is Business Ethics.”

Ethics.

The word landed like a slap.

He clicked the projector on. “This course isn’t about memorizing rules or pretending the world is black and white. It’s about the moments when everything blurs, when personal desire slams into professional responsibility. When you cross a line… and there’s no clean way back.”

I pressed my thighs together so hard as my nails dug into my palms.

He knew.

He had to have known last night. The masks didn’t hide the shape of my mouth when I moaned. I had even taken it off, God.

And now he stood there, calm, authoritative, teaching us about consequences while I sat here marked by him.

Isa leaned in again. “Miya, breathe.”

I couldn’t.

Because the man who disappeared from my life six years ago was back, and with him every feeling I had tried to bury.

He clicked the projector remote. The first slide appeared behind him: Syllabus & Course Objectives.

“This isn’t a philosophy seminar,” he continued, eyes moving across the rows. “It’s not about memorizing codes of conduct or pretending the answers are always clean. This course is about the real world. The moments when everything collides, personal desire against professional duty, loyalty against self-preservation, the line you know you shouldn’t cross… but do anyway”.

My fingers curled around the ball pen. The hickey throbbed under my bra like a second heartbeat.

Desire. Duty. Every word felt aimed at me.

I swallowed hard.

He went on and on, taking the class through what we should expect for the semester. All this while, his eyes found a way to me, that mischievous look glinting in his eyes.

I couldn’t wait for class to be over. I needed to get out of here. As soon as possible.

Isa kept saying something, but I couldn't hear her. It was as if everything else had faded and the only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat and his voice sending tingles down my spine.

“That’ll be all for today. See you next week”, Caden finally said to the class as he ruffled the files on his desk.

“Miya!”

Isa’s voice snapped me out of it.

“This is the third time I've called you now. Please come back to earth”, she joked.

“Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about the asshole.” She put her hands on her hips, glaring at me as other students walked in between us in a loud chatter.

“No… I—” I didn't get to finish when I heard my name.

“Miss Miyara Anderson, stay after class”, his voice came out firm and commanding, catching me off guard.

A couple of students cast wary glances at me, probably thinking I had gotten into trouble with the new professor already.

“You might need to leave without me Isa”, I turned to Isa whose eyes were on my stepbrother. Sorry, professor. I didn't even know what he was to me at this point.

“The rumours were true after all”, she said, eyes scanning him from top to bottom.

The hall was almost empty now. Leaving me with only Isa and Caden. My stomach somersaulted at being left alone with him. He couldn’t have known it was me right? What had I gotten myself into?

“See you”, Isa wrapped an arm around me before heading towards the door, letting it click shut behind her.

He was looking at me, almost as if memorizing my features into his head. My chest tightened, heat traveling up my cheeks.

I moved slowly, wishing the distance between us stretched further so I could delay my impending doom.

I kept my head down, sweeping my hair forward to cover half of my face as I finally reached where he stood.

I didn’t need to look up to see his eyes on me. I could feel it in my bones.

“Eyes on me”, he commanded, voice rough and husky. It sent shivers down my spine to my toes. I slowly raised my head, meeting his eyes.

Icy blue eyes like glass stared back at me, holding me in place. His cologne filled my nostrils, cedar and something expensive.

“I didn’t know my little sister was so desperate for c**k she’ll beg any stranger to f**k her.”

Heat rose to my face. I tightened the hold on my bag strap.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Professor.” My voice cracked, betraying me.

He let out a low chuckle, circling the desk and leaning towards me. My breath caught when he whispered in my ear.

“The next time you beg me to f**k you, I won’t be a gentleman.”