Page 13 of Savage Don

Poor little princess, locked in a gilded cage with a domineering father for a warden.

Don’t worry, kitten. I’ll steal you away from him soon enough. He works for me now, after all.

Keeping her phone out, Francesca drops her hand to her side and starts to look past me. Presumably for a friend or a familiar face.

She probably won’t find one. This is one of the last classes of the week. The second her straggling classmates got the email letting them know that the lecture was cancelled, they all high-tailed it out of here—probably relieved that they could get a head-start on their weekend.

This is Branksome University, after all. These kids care more about partying than any lecture.

It’s a despicable place that I swore I’d never return to. But I’ve broken that promise, and it’s all because of her.

“Looking for someone?” I ask, following Francesca’s gaze. There’s no way she brought security with her, but I still have to be careful. If one of Domenico’s men sees that I’m stalking his daughter, there could be trouble. And more trouble is the last thing I need right now.

“I’m looking for my friend Janice. She’s supposed to be here soon,” Francesca says, looking back towards me. A suspicious curiosity dances behind her pretty eyes. “Are you a professor here or something?”

“I work here,” I nod, keeping out the fact that my business on this campus has nothing to do with the school.

I’m following her. I have been for weeks.

“Did you get one of those emails about the bomb threat?”

“No,” I shake my head. “It was probably only sent out to the people who use this building.”

Looking back over her shoulder, Francesca stares up at the glowing orange lights on the top floors.

“Guess they forgot to turn those lights off when they evacuated,” she mumbles.

“You know how forgetful professors can be,” I smile.

“I wish they’d be a little more forgetful,” Francesca huffs. “My professors never seem to forget a single mistake. Not everyone can make it to campus at the strike of dawn and wait around all day waiting for their next class, you know…”

“Is one of your professor’s giving you trouble?” I ask, raising my eyebrow at her.

Without warning, a protective instinct has risen up inside of me, and I have to subtly fight it off just to keep my face from twisting into something ugly.

This is my little fawn. In my mind, I’ve already claimed her. No one else gets to fuck with Francesca Galli. No one but me.

“… What if one of them was?” Francesca challenges me, appearing to sense my little outburst.

For a moment, our gazes meet and we just stare at each other.

Usually, I’m pretty calm in a showdown. But I’ve been watching this girl from afar for so long now that my pulse jumps at the intimacy of it all.

She finally sees me… and she doesn’t seem nearly as horrified as I expected—though, that might change when she learns what I have planned for her…

“I’m sure you can fend for yourself,” I finally say, breaking the stalemate with a tiny smirk.

“You better believe I can.”

“… Francesca!”

The voice comes from back down the walkway, and Francesca and I both whip around towards it.

Instantly, I spot the source. A short, auburn haired, down-home country-looking girl is practically speed-walking towards us. It doesn’t take long to recognize her as Francesca’s friend. I’ve seen them together before. What was her name, again?

“Janice!” Yeah, that’s it. “Well, it was nice meeting you,” Francesca says. Her left foot twirls ever so slightly as she looks up at me with those big shimmering eyes.

It makes my pulse jump again.