CHAPTER SIX
Charlotte’s spine cracked against the wall. Jensen heard the impact before he heard her voice. “Ah!” She cried out. Worried about Charlotte, Jensen had followed her outside, claiming he was going for a bathroom break. But now, a thick-necked man with a gangster’s build was brooding over her, his massive hand pinning her shoulder to the concrete. “Stop fighting it!” the man growled, his breath rancid, and mouth just a few inches from her ear. “Everyone knows what you really are under that ice-queen act. One night with me, and I’ll make sure nobody ever lays a hand on you again.” Then he smirked. “Except me, whenever I want.” Charlotte pushed and fought, but the man was too strong. “Get off me!” Her voice cracked, fury and terror tangled together. The man grabbed her even tighter. She whimpers under his touch, adrenaline and fear surging through her body like a drug. “Scream all you want.” He laughed. “Nobody’s coming for a filthy girl like you.” He ran his hand through her hair, taking in a big sniff that made her gag. “Ahhh… yes… smells just like a bitch. I bet that pussy smells nice too.” He smiled. “Let me taste it!” He snapped and grabbed her skirt. But before he could rip it, Jensen’s voice cut through the air. “Hey! She’s needed back in. Now!” “Fuck off or I’ll break your nose–“ The man froze as his neck turned around. His heart skipped a beat, taking in Jensen’s form. “It’s… you…” he whispered. Charlotte frowned. Her eyes darted from the man to Jensen. Recognition hit the man like a fist. “Y-young master-” He let go of Charlotte so fast she nearly fell. His body folded into a bow so deep his forehead nearly cracked against his own knees. A dark wet stain spread down his trousers. This wasn’t some random brat. This was the one from that night outside the club: the one who’d turned Benjamin’s car into scrap and put half a dozen grown men on the pavement without breaking stride. Jensen recognized him in the same breath: one of Benjamin’s hired thugs from that exact night. The change was instant. One second, he was a leering predator with his hand around a woman’s wrist. The next, he looked like he’d seen a ghost walk through the wall. “I didn’t know. I swear to God I didn’t know it was you—” Then his own open palm cracked across his face. Charlotte gasped. Again. Harder. Again. Each strike landed louder than the last. His cheek split, blood sprayed thin and bright across his knuckles. “Please, young master. Please. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” Jensen didn’t say another word. He took Charlotte’s arm and walked past the man like he wasn’t even there. Like the sound of a grown man destroying his own face on the floor was nothing more than show. Charlotte didn’t speak the entire back. She just stared at him. Whatever story she’d known about the quiet, broke classmate everyone laughed at, it had just been torn to shreds, with no replacement offered. “What was that?” Jensen asked once they left the corridor. Her mask snapped back into place. “No one. Forget it.” She didn’t elaborate. Jensen let it die. The private room had gone quiet by the time they returned, conversations dying mid-sentence as heads turned toward Jensen. He took his seat, and the classmates on either side of him shifted away in unison, exaggerated and obvious, like he carried something contagious. One girl made a show of approaching the empty seat beside him, pretending to sit, but then gasped, recoiled, and dramatically swapped places with someone else, hand pressed to her chest like she’d narrowly avoided catastrophe. The room erupted in laughter. “Fucking dog shit.” Matthew mumbled and laughed. He had saved the seat directly beside himself, expecting Charlotte to slide in next to him the moment she returned. He even gestured to it, smiling, certain of his win. But Charlotte walked past him without a glance and sat down beside Jensen instead. The entire room fell silent. “We’re all classmates,” she said simply, not looking at anyone in particular. “It doesn’t matter where I sit.” Matthew’s smile cracked at the edges. Refusing to lose in front of an audience, he dragged his own chair around and forced himself into the seat on her other side. Something warm moved through Jensen at the gesture, even as he understood exactly what it was… and wasn’t. Charlotte hadn’t chosen him out of feeling. She’d chosen a side. It was against Matthew for now. “You offered to buy drinks earlier, didn’t you, Jensen?” Matthew’s smile turned sharp. “Go on. Pick the wine. Let’s see what taste a broke loser actually has.” He laughed. The others joined him, all except Coleman and Charlotte. “Just leave him alone, Matthew.” Charlotte replied to him. She didn’t want Jensen humiliated after he just saved her. But Matthew scoffed. “He was boasting earlier about the drinks. Let him buy them. Or leave this dinner!” Matthew declared. “You can’t do that. Jensen is just like any other classmate here,” Coleman quickly jumped in. Matthew scoffed. “This loser is nothing like us. So, what’s it gonna be, Jensen?” Matthew smiled, certain he had won. With Jensen gone, he’d take Charlotte back. But Jensen set his glass down slowly, holding Matthew’s stare with the kind of calm that should have scared him. “With pleasure,” he said. Then he lifted two fingers toward the waiter and didn’t blink. “A bottle of Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon. The ’92, if you have it.” A hush spread through the hall. The waiter’s pen froze mid-air.Latest Chapter
Enjoy while it’s yours
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Jensen stepped into the VIP section.He wasn't done spending yet."Can I help you?" The salesman's eyes swept over the bags from the menswear store, then over Jensen's face. He frowned. "Or did you wander in by mistake?""I'd like to see the special pieces."The man laughed, short and ugly. "Those start at fifty thousand, pretty boy. This isn't a pawn shop where you bring in your mother's wedding ring and walk out with a sob story. Try the food court. The kiosk by the pretzel stand does battery replacements for five bucks. that's more your price range."A woman browsing nearby snorted into her hand."I didn't ask for comedy," Jensen said. "I asked to see the collection.""And I'm telling you to leave before security makes it ugly for both of us." The man leaned on the counter, smug as a cat with a bird in its mouth. "This is the VIP session. Random playboys don't touch anything in here. These pieces are above you. Way above.""Funny," Jensen said. "I've yet to meet
Upgrade
CHAPTER THIRTEEN“You need an upgrade.”Geena’s voice echoed through Jensen’s mind. He smiled. If she thought some fancy clothes and shoes would do some good, then he would oblige.The mall doors slid open, and Jensen walked through them.Just at the beginning, he saw a newspaper report.STARR INC. SHARES CONTINUE FREEFALL. THIRD STRAIGHT DAY OF LOSSES.Jensen smiled, then kept walking. Geena’s handiwork was still bleeding out in real time. He didn’t feel guilty about the satisfaction. Not a bit.“Can I help you?” A woman in a tailored blazer intercepted him.He’d found the menswear store on the second floor.“Hello? Sir? What do you want?” Her tone carried the particular rush of someone already calculating how fast she could get him back outside.“Clothes,” Jensen said. “Several.”She laughed, taking in his appearance. “Sweetheart, the cologne samples alone cost more than whatever’s in your bank account. This isn’t a thrift store. This is for high class customers only.”She pointed
Friends and… new enemies
CHAPTER TWELVE“An empire,” Geena repeated, smiling like she’d been waiting all day to hear him say it. “Good. Because empires don’t run on sentiment, big brother. They run on leverage. And you’re about to get your first lesson in exactly that.”Jensen closed the folder.“Then teach me,” he said to her. “Start with whatever’s actually useful. Skip the parts where you dress it up as a metaphor.”Geena’s smile sharpened. “Fine. Next week, the three major families and Everest Corporation are throwing a charity dinner….” She stood up, walking toward the mini bar to pour herself a drink.“…Officially, it’s raising money for underfunded community programs.” She let the pause stretch. “Unofficially, it’s a cage match dressed in black tie. Everyone who matters in this city is going to be in that room, sniffing for blood, trying to figure out who’s actually running Whitmore.”“Meet me, you mean.” He said.“Meet you,” she confirmed. “They already know the company exists. Nobody knows the fa
Empire
CHAPTER ELEVEN Jensen walked off campus. One second he was standing outside the lecture hall, staring at the spot where Charlotte had vanished into the crowd. The next, he was three blocks away. His phone buzzed. A text message came in. Coleman: Bro where’d you go?? You good? He typed back. Fine. Need some air He kept moving. Charlotte’s text was still looping in his head. The “I just need to be alone right now” she’d sent before she vanished. Jensen would ensure Matthew got punished for this. A second buzz followed. A different number. Geena: Hey big brother. You’re needed at the Victorian suite. Now. Don’t make me send Seth. The Victorian suite was only used by Geena. She didn’t own it, but she liked it enough that nobody else bothered booking it when she was in town. She never invited anyone there. Jensen frowned. What was wrong? He quickly flagged a taxi and got in. Upon arriving at the suite, the cabbie glared at him. “You’re sure this is the right place?” the cabbi
Claw
CHAPTER TEN“Jensen, please.” Her voice trembled on cue. Perfectly reharsed. “I made a mistake. A horrible mistake. I was scared, and confused, and Benjamin pressured me into all of it… please, just give me one more chance…”“No,” Jensen cut her off. Rose blinked, thrown by the lack of hesitation. “You don’t mean that. Two years, Jensen. You loved me.” She sniffled.“I did.” His voice stayed even, almost bored. “That’s in the past now. You made sure of that yourself, in a VIP room, in front of an audience, with another man’s hand groping you.” He shrugged. “Hard to unsee something like that. Even harder to care.”“You’re being cruel, Jensen.”Jensen scoffed.“I’m being honest. There’s a difference, but I understand the confusion. You’ve never experienced the second one.”Lana’s patience snapped instantly. She was behind Rose the entire time. “Don’t talk to her like that, you broke piece of trash.” She stepped forward, finger jabbing the air. “You think anyone’s impressed by w
Witnesses
CHAPTER NINE“Damn! This is better than the porn out there!” A boy whispered.The lecture hall was packed that morning. Jensen noticed it the second he walked in. A room that normally sat a dozen bored students scattered across the back rows now had nearly two hundred crammed into every seat, almost all of them male.All of them oddly alert for nine in the morning.Something was off. He just didn’t know what yet.He found a seat near the middle, ignoring the way a few heads turned to track him.Matthew didn’t come home last night. Coleman was still asleep.Rose sat in the back row, pale and hollow-eyed, staring at him without blinking. Her best friend Lana elbowed her out of the daze, not bothering to lower her voice. “Why are you staring at the broke loser like he’s still relevant? Forget him. You’ve got Benjamin now. Actual money and class.” Lana shot Jensen a glare. “Funny how the smell of poverty follows some people into a lecture hall.” She gagged before focusing on Rose a
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