Chapter 4
TWO MONTHS LATER
Present
22 years old
Manhattan, New York City
WINTER brEAK PASSED BY IN a blur. My parents, sister and I went to see our dad’s side of the family and ski in Nozawa Onsen, Japan. Apart from smoking Kali on the slopes and chilling in the hot springs, nothing interesting happened. My cousins tried to drag me out to the local nightclubs but I just hadn’t been in the mood lately.
I guess that happened when you were a twenty-two-year-old billionaire who’d participated in New York’s nightlife since birth. Everything got old. Same shit, different day.
Pushing the back door to my lecture hall open, I took a seat in the far back next to Zach.
“You missed morning practice.”
Zach Di’Ablo. A sophomore and the team’s golden Shooting Guard. Always the best shooter on the court. My knock-down, three-pointer. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d missed a shot. Passionate and low-key obsessed with ball, with very achievable aspirations to go pro.
If only it hadn’t been for reality. Zach would never go pro. Not because he wasn’t good enough; shit, he was the best, most dedicated player I’d ever seen. But because being heir to the largest Cartel in the western hemisphere required responsibilities of far larger importance, disallowing any time for the NBA.
That was actually how we’d met.
His brother, Matteo – also known as Diablo in the criminal underworld – was the current head of the Di’Ablo Mexican Cartel. He took over at only sixteen after their parents were killed and their mansion burned to the ground, losing everything. So, he sent Zach away to the East Coast to live and be safe with my family. Our parents had had a long-standing relationship, though we’d never met until then.
Zach had only been six at the time and barely had any recollection of those events. One night when we got drunk in high school, he told me he didn’t even remember his parents’ faces.
We grew up together. I had seen him through every phase, and he’d seen me. He lived under my family’s roof for ten years. We studied together. We partied together. We did business together.
To say we were brothers, was an understatement.
I ran a hand from the front of my head to the back, smoothing out my cornrows. “Least you were there to take over for me.”
When I was absent, Zach was always my second in command in regard to the basketball team. And when I would eventually leave this year, he’d be more than ready to take over as Captain.
I’d been gifted with a high IQ of 160, that I hadn’t put to waste. In a few months, I’d become one of the youngest PhD graduates of Columbia University, and officially start working for Su .
Though, what I was really interested in was getting to work for my family’s real business without any more distractions.
Our multi-billion-dollar company had been built on the shoulders of an underground hacking empire and the tight connections to the biggest criminal organizations around the world due to being their main weapons dealer – hence, how our parents became friends all those years ago.
“You should be leading by example.”
As team captain, I played Point Guard, who also went by several other names, including The One , Playmaker , and my personal favorite: the coach on the floor .
I side-eyed him just in time to catch the shit-eating grin on his face.
“Bet you pretended you were captain the whole time.”
He chuckled. “Any chance you could graduate yesterday?”
“Alright, everyone. Take your seats. I hope you had a relaxing winter break…”
Our chuckles died down as we faced forward and listened to the professor rattle on about his time off and what we were going to study this term. Neither Zach nor I took any notes. We were only taking this class – communication studies – because coach insisted that it made us better communicators on the court.
Half an hour passed by with nothing out of the ordinary. I was resting my head on my hand, nearly falling asleep as the teacher analyzed body language.
With the corner of my eye, I caught the lecture hall door by the front, open slowly. Whoever did so, didn’t step inside, but instead remained behind the frame when the professor turned to look straight at them.
He checked his watch. “You’re late.”
“I apologize, Mr Jones. It’s my first day. I got lost.”
The soft voice entangled its way through my mind, sparking recognition. It woke me up like an ice-water bucket.
I immediately straightened and leaned forward in my seat.
“Ah, yes. Miss Moretti. Well… Just don’t let it happen again.”
“Thank you.” Natalia stepped in, closing the door behind her, and took the first available seat at the front, in the center of the first row – like the perfect student.
My eyes ran down her body, taking in her jeans, pink jumper and matching pink designer bag.
I must have stared at the back of her head of caramel hair for five minutes before Zach cleared his throat, breaking me out of the spell.
Rolling my shoulders, I attempted to relax and distract myself by paying attention to the lecture.
For the next hour and a half, I didn’t hear a single word from the professor, but noticed every movement of hers. Every time she checked her phone. Every time she ran a manicured hand through her silky hair. Every time she crossed one of her legs over the other.
I couldn’t shake her off.
When class ended, and she still hadn’t noticed me, I made it my mission to make such a strong impression on her that she’d feel my presence before I even walked into the room. I didn’t take my eyes off her as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and picked up her bag. By the time she was heading towards the door, I was already halfway down the stairs.
“Don’t.”
I turned to Zach, over my shoulder. “What?”
He shook his head and walked off through the back door without saying anything else.
I ignored him and went back to what I was doing.
Natalia.
I hurried down the rest of the stairs. Pushing through the lecture-hall door, I followed behind in the busy hallway, until I was close enough to push her back against the lockers – not giving a fuck who saw us.
She gasped, surprise and shock all over her face, before she recognized me and it all turned into anger.
Hot, messy anger that matched mine.
Resting my hands on the lockers, by each side of her head, I leaned in, frustration and annoyance oozing off me in waves.
“Thought I told you to stay away from me.”
“You did.”
I cocked my head, exerting more emotion than my usual self. “And yet, here you are. Missed me?”
“As if! You’re the one pushing me up against the wall.” When she forced me off, I let her.
She stormed off.
I followed right after.
People in the hallway moved out of my way, the way they always did, and consequently Natalia’s way. The top of her head barely reached my collarbone.
Leaning down to her level, I spoke harshly in her ear from behind. “Not sure if you noticed, but NYU’s campus is pretty far away from here.”
“I’m aware.”
As we turned the corner, I stepped in front of her. “Then what are you doing here?”
“Oh, isn’t it obvious?” She smiled so sweet, my teeth hurt. “I go here now.”
After she stormed into the women’s restroom, I walked away.
Her condescending giggle echoed through my mind, bouncing off the walls of my cranium until it was all I could hear.
I go here now.
Four words I never knew would unsettle me.
It didn’t make sense. She didn’t have the grades, or connections to get in – least of all transfer.
At least I wouldn’t have to see her for the next three hours. My next class was about to begin – advanced coding, with only four other attendees. I was the youngest and best-scoring student in the rank.
Coding and hacking were all I did. At school. Outside of basketball. At my parents’ company and underground empire.
Checking the time, I noticed there was less than a minute until the beginning of the lecture, and everyone was already here. The professor was getting the projector started and the other four students were teamed up in two pairs.
I was the only one without a partner – just the way I liked it. I worked better alone. And not having to share the desk was also a no-brainer.
I leaned back after typing in my student ID and password, and waited for the screen to load.
Just as it did, and the professor rose from her chair to begin the lecture, the classroom door opened.
And none other than Little Miss Perfect herself stepped inside.
Again.
This shit had to be some kind of joke.
But the professor’s face only beamed with recognition as Natalia made her way towards them, wearing a similar – sweeter – smile of her own.
“Everyone, please meet Miss Natalia Moretti. Our latest transfer student from NYU.” Only transfer. Ever. “Natalia was ranked as the top-scoring and highest-achieving student in NYU coding history. And she is now officially, the youngest person to qualify for this course.” Colombia’s most advanced coding class.
Natalia turned to face the class, but her eyes immediately landed on me, and her smile set like the sun.
My favorite class had now become my least.
A strange, unfamiliar feeling seeped through my veins as we stared at each other. I was no longer the youngest person taking this course. Natalia was. Despite everything, I had more self-respect than to allow my skin to turn green with envy, so I forced the feeling down and tensed my jaw instead. I was simply frustrated.
Natalia looked away, focusing back on Professor Davis as she went on and on about Natalia’s achievements.
“Natalia, you will sit next to Mr Trevor Su.”
The only thing that grounded me in that moment was seeing the suppressed, horrified expression on Natalia’s face and knowing this was causing her just as much annoyance as me.
Without complaint, she did so.
My eyes unwillingly traveled up her thighs as she got closer, before pulling the chair and gracefully sitting down next to me – like the perfect student .
Since I never shared my desk – and since I was 6’2 – I was used to taking up space. I was laid back in my chair, legs relaxed out.
So, when she sat next to me – just because I was an asshole – I didn’t move to give her more space.
Her thigh brushed my knee.
My skin ignited, and as if she felt the same burn, we jumped away from each other at the same time. Then both readjusted our positions and pretended like nothing happened.
Since Professor Davis was introducing today’s topic, no one had noticed. But Natalia and I were both painfully aware that it had happened.
The worst part? Whatever that was didn’t go away. I could still feel the ghost of her touch and I was hot. Natalia didn’t look like she was doing much better by the pink flush growing on her cheeks.
Damn. She even blushed pink.
“Trevor,” The professor caught my attention, bringing me out of my thoughts. “You scored 100 on the admission exam. A perfect score.”
I gave a respectful nod of my head.
“And Natalia, you scored 95. Extremely impressive.”
She smiled that sickly-sweet smile of hers. “Thank you.”
Davis returned it. “You two will work together for the rest of the year.”
“ What? ” Natalia and I asked at the same time.
“You two are the highest-scoring students in the class.”
The only remaining empty seat in the room had been next to me, so I couldn’t exactly argue against her sitting next to me. However, working together – meaning mandatory talking and discussing of topics during class was off the table.
“ I work alone ,” I argued before the professor turned to leave.
Davis smiled. “Not anymore.”
As she walked away, I turned back to Natalia, only to find her already staring at me with a condescending smile.
“So you’re always a dick. Not just with me. Good to know.”
“And you’re just perfect, aren’t you?”
I expected some snarky comeback in regards to my comment – I hadn’t necessarily meant anything by it, just that she faked being nice, then went and called me a dick when the professor wasn’t listening.
But Natalia’s face only froze with lack of emotion as she turned away from me without another word.
“Alright, everyone. To get you all back in the headspace, we’ll get started with this code. You have twenty minutes to…”
I watched as Natalia reached for her computer’s keyboard, only to stop herself and lean back in her chair. Her earlier smile was gone, replaced by an almost worried expression. I had wanted to annoy her before, but didn’t mean for my comment to unsettle her so much.
I told myself I didn’t care.
That didn’t stop my frowned gaze from burning into the side of her face. “What’s wrong?”
Natalia slowly looked back at me, slightly embarrassed. “I don’t get my student ID till next week.”
So she couldn’t access the computers. Meaning…
“We’ll share mine.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll just use paper–” She argued, pulling a pink notepad and pen from her matching bag.
“Scared you’ll lose?”
She paused, glancing back at me. “What?”
“You can’t check if your code works like that. But you could on my computer. Scared mine will work and yours won’t?”
“My codes work . I don’t need to prove anything.”
“Mhm.” I rubbed my hand over my jaw, hiding my smirk. “Sure.”
“ Exactly .”
I shrugged. “Great.”
The longer we stared at each other the harder it was to cover my arrogant smirk. Or to not notice Natalia’s soft brown eyes. Warm like honey. Intense like a shot of expresso.
My haze vanished when she tsked, reaching for my keyboard.
Two hours later, and half an hour before the end of the class, we were tied. In all honesty, I hadn’t expected her to last that long. No one had before her. And I was starting to realize, if there was one thing Miss Perfect wasn’t faking, it was her coding ability.
I couldn’t help but remember the night of the Christmas Charity Gala. What I’d said… You’re a bad influence. You’re obviously not passing with honors.
Man, I really could be a dick.
I had underestimated her. Natalia was smart. A lot smarter than she let on.
It was one of the first things I noticed about her that night. Even before we bumped into each other and she spilled that drink on me. I noticed her the moment she entered the mansion.
And I’d seen her talking to one of the guests – actually, that’s an overstatement. I’d seen one of the donors mansplaining to her about God knows what, even though I could tell by her expression she didn’t need or want to hear it.
Similarly, in the way she allowed Professor Davis to explain to her a code I’d already seen her use.
I watched her nodding along, with a soft smile.
Same way she did with that asshole at the benefit.
I didn’t understand it.
How or why she was so nice to other people.
Yeah. Right. Everyone but me.
She had no problem calling me every insult in the dictionary.
We were on the last challenge of the class and it was my turn to solve it. Rolling my shoulders, I reached for the keyboard and began coding. Natalia might’ve been the youngest in the class, but I was still the highest scorer.
Five minutes before the end of the class, I finished it. I got to the end, but… It didn’t go through. Frowning, I went over it again. I hadn’t missed anything.
I glanced at the clock – thirty seconds before the end. I’d never not finished a task before. What the hell…
I didn’t notice when Natalia reached for the keyboard until she began typing.
A mere second later… It. Went. Through.
I turned to look at her – head tilted, eyebrows knotted, stare blank – shock written all over my face.
Natalia didn’t bother noticing me. She was too busy putting her stuff away and standing, her pink designer bag hanging off her arm. Flipping her caramel hair over her shoulder, she finally looked at me.
“What?”
“You solved it.”
“Yeah.”
“Before me.” It didn’t make any sense.
“So?”
“That’s impossible. I scored higher than you.”
Her smile was sweet. “Tests don’t determine intelligence.” Walking away, she threw me one last look over her shoulder, leaving me speechless. “See you around, playboy .”
My eyes followed her until she was out of sight.
Damn. She was good.
Getting into my black Ferrari, I pulled out of the college parking lot and called Kali’s phone. The sun was setting as I sped through the streets of the Upper West Side, illuminated by the city lights, and the obnoxious ringing pissed me off the longer it took her to pick up.
“What?”
I ran my tongue over my teeth. “What is Natalia doing at Columbia?”
“ Oh ,” My sister’s voice carried trouble. “Did I forget to tell you about that?”
My jaw tensed. “ You did .”
“She goes there now.”
Beep.
She hung up.