Chapter 4 Stay Quiet

Ryan froze in the doorway, staring at me with my blouse partly undone. His mouth opened, but no words came out.

Charles moved faster than I thought possible. He grabbed the vase from his desk and slammed it against Ryan’s head, I shrieked at the sound. Ryan dropped at once, his body hitting the floor.

I rushed to him. My knees hit the ground hard, but I barely felt it. Ryan’s eyes were shut, his face went pale. I pressed my ear close to his mouth until I felt the faint brush of his breath. Relief came, but it was weak.

I shook his shoulder. “Ryan! Wake up!” but there was no reaction, his head lolled to the side.

“What did you do?” My voice cracked as I glared at Charles.

Charles calmly set the vase back on the desk as if he had just dropped a pen. “He walked in where he shouldn’t have.”

I clenched my fists. “I’ll tell. I’ll go to the dean, to the police. You can’t stop me. I promise you'll regret this.”

He laughed under his breath, low and steady. “Confess? You think you’re brave enough?” He took a step closer, then another. His eyes never left mine.

“Yes,” I said. My voice shook, but I forced it louder. “I’ll tell everything, i want out.”

He stopped in front of me. His shadow fell across me as he crouched. He hooked a finger under my chin, pushing my face up to his. His touch was firm but careful.

“Say that again,” he whispered.

“I want out,” I repeated.

His mouth curved into a slow smile. “No, Elena. You don’t. You’re mine now.”

I shoved his hand away and stood quickly. “You don’t own me. I’ll make them see what you did.”

Charles leaned against his desk, his arms crossed. His tone was almost amused. “And what happens to your family when you do that?”

My stomach turned, my eyes widened. "My family."

He pushed off the desk and came closer. “Your mother leaves the house at six every morning. Your brother takes the same bus from school every day. You think I don’t know? You think I can’t reach them?”

I froze, the room felt colder.

“Don’t you dare touch them,” I said.

“Don’t I dare?” He moved even closer. “I dare everything, because I can. Because you handed me the chance the moment you begged me to fix your score. Do you remember how desperate you were? On your knees, pleading with me?” His smile widened. “You gave me yourself that day, Elena. Don’t pretend otherwise.”

I stepped back, my legs staggering until my back hit the wall. He placed his hand beside my head, leaning close.

“You belong to me now,” he said softly. His words were slow and careful, like a chain locking around my neck. “If you open your mouth to anyone, they’ll suffer. Every last one of them.”

I turned my face away, but he caught my chin again and forced me to look. “You’re insane,” I whispered.

“Maybe,” he said. “But you like it. You can’t stop looking at me.” His gaze dropped to my collar, and he brushed his finger lightly along the edge before pulling back.

“Run along,” he said. “Pretend you still have choices but remember, your family breathes because you keep quiet.”

My legs finally moved. I bolted to the door and yanked it open.

His voice followed me, sharp and calm. “If you ever forget, I’ll remind you.”

I ran as fast as I can, the hall was silent except for the sound of my shoes hitting the floor. I didn’t stop until I burst through the exit and into the night. The cold air hit me, but it didn’t calm the shaking in my hands.

I bent over Ryan’s name echoed in my head, but I couldn’t go back. If Charles saw me near him, it would be worse. I pressed a hand against my bag strap and kept walking until the building was behind me.

Every word Charles had said clung to me. He knew my family’s routines. He had thought it out, planned it. If I spoke, they would pay.

I pulled out my phone, thumb hovering over my mother’s number but I froze. What would I even say? “Don’t go to work tomorrow because my professor threatened you?” She would laugh. Or worse, she would worry and ask questions I couldn’t answer and the matter would be worse.

I slid the phone back in my bag, breathing hard. The streetlights around the campus looked dim, every shadow felt like it was hiding him.

My brother’s face flashed in my mind, his easy smile when he came home from school. My mother’s tired hands setting dinner on the table. If Charles really had someone watching them, I couldn’t risk it.

I sank onto a bench near the gate, staring at the ground. My thoughts spun with anger, fear, guilt, everything rushed in at once. I hated him. I hated how calm he had been, how sure of himself. But most of all, I hated the part of me that still felt the weight of his touch on my chin, the sound of his voice close to my ear.

I rubbed my arms as if I could scrub the feeling off.

There was no escape not tonight, what will Charles do?

I had thought walking into his office and demanding freedom would save me. Instead, I had walked straight into another trap.

And now Ryan lay unconscious on the floor because of me.

I stood finally, forcing myself toward the street that led to my house. My legs felt heavy, but I kept going. The night was quiet, too quiet, as if the whole campus held its breath.

One thing was clear. Charles wasn’t just a strict professor. He was something else. Something far darker, someone I shouldn't have had anything with.

And no matter how much I wanted to run, I was caught.