The interior of the Range Rover smelled of expensive leather and the lingering scent of Kaida's rose-and-honey body wash. It was a suffocatingly intimate space. Jax sat behind the wheel, his large frame making the driver's seat look small. His gloved hands gripped the steering wheel with a relaxed, lethal precision.
In the back seat, Kaida sat as far away from him as possible, staring out the tinted window at the blurring streets of Milan. She looked like a queen on a throne, her chin tilted high, but her mind was a whirlwind of dark schemes.
You think you've won, don't you? she thought, her eyes narrowing as she caught Jax's silhouette in the glass. You think because my father handed you the keys, you own me. But you're just a pawn, Jax. I'll make your life so miserable, I'll scream so loud, and I'll break every rule until my father realizes you're a failure. I'll bring Leo back. He knew his place. You... you don't even know what world you've walked into.
A small, triumphant smirk played on her lips as she imagined him being kicked out of the estate with his tailored suit in a trash bag.
Jax, however, wasn't just driving. He was hunting. His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, catching that tiny, secret smirk on her face. He didn't need to be a psychic to know what she was plotting; he had dealt with rebellious subordinates and rival bosses his whole life. A twenty-one-year-old girl was a puzzle he had already solved.
"Are you thinking about something pleasant, Miss?" Jax's voice broke the silence, deep and smooth like expensive cognac.
Kaida jumped, her body giving a violent little shake as she was pulled out of her internal world. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She hated how he could read her—how he seemed to see through the back of his head.
"I wasn't thinking about anything that concerns you, Rossi," she snapped, recovering her icy mask. "Focus on the road. That's what you're paid for, isn't it? To be a glorified chauffeur?"
Jax didn't flinch. If anything, his grip on the wheel tightened just a fraction, a silent sign of the possessive hunger he was hiding. Keep talking, Princess, he thought. Every insult just makes me want to see how you'll look when you finally realize I'm the one who holds the leash.
The Arrival at the University
As the Range Rover pulled into the cobblestone courtyard of the prestigious university, students stopped in their tracks. The car was sleek, but the man driving it was the real spectacle. When Jax stepped out, he adjusted his black suit jacket, his presence commanding the attention of everyone in the square.
Kaida threw the door open before he could reach it, wanting to deny him the chance to be a gentleman.
"Stay here," she commanded, not even looking at him as she adjusted her bag. "I have lectures, then lunch with my friends. You can wait by the car like a good dog. You don't need to go inside."
Jax didn't move an inch out of her way. He stood like a stone wall, his dark sunglasses reflecting her annoyed face.
"I'm afraid that's not how this works, Miss Valerius," he said, his voice low and immovable. "Your father didn't pay me to guard a car. He paid me to guard you. Where you go, I go. Whether it's a lecture hall, a library, or the cafeteria. I am your shadow. And shadows don't stay in parking lots."
Kaida let out a frustrated groan, her heels clicking loudly as she turned and stomped toward the main entrance. "Fine! But stay ten steps back! I don't want people thinking I'm being arrested!"
The Whispers of the Friends
Kaida marched toward the stone steps where her group of girlfriends was waiting. She was fuming, her face flushed with a mix of anger and embarrassment. But as she approached, she realized her friends weren't even looking at her.
Their eyes were locked on the man walking slowly behind her. Jax moved with a predatory grace, his eyes scanning the rooftops and the crowds, his hand never far from the button of his blazer.
"Kaida! Oh my god," Sofia, her closest friend, whispered the moment Kaida reached them. "Who is that? Is he a model? A movie star?"
"Is he your new guard?" another girl, Elena, chimed in, leaning over to get a better look at Jax as he came to a halt a few yards away, looking like a high-fashion hitman. "He is absolutely gorgeous. Look at those shoulders... he looks like he could snap someone in half and look elegant doing it."
Kaida rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. "He's nobody. He's just a replacement my father forced on me. I hate him. He's arrogant, he's bossy, and he's obsessed with rules. My father fired Leo for this? I don't know what he was thinking."
"I know what I'm thinking," Sofia giggled, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and trying to catch Jax's eye. "If you don't want him, I'll take him. He looks like the kind of man who has very dangerous secrets."
Kaida looked back at Jax. He was standing perfectly still, his face a mask of indifference, but she caught the way his jaw worked when he saw Sofia looking at him. He wasn't interested. He wasn't even looking at her friends.
His eyes were locked onto the back of Kaida's neck, watching the pulse jump in her throat.
"Trust me," Kaida muttered, turning back to her friends and pulling them toward the lecture hall. "He's not a dream. He's a nightmare. And I'm going to wake up from it very soon."
As she walked away, she felt the heavy weight of Jax's gaze on her back. She didn't see the cold, dark smirk that crossed his face when he saw a group of college boys try to approach her, only to freeze and turn away the moment they made eye contact with him.
He was already marking his territory. And the day had only just begun.