Running From The Mafia Falling For The Hockey King

tina'

to me, it smelled like freedom. I pressed my forehead against the vibrating

s of the Rossi estate. My controlling father and his horrible associates. The criminal empire that stained my family's name in blood and whispered rumors. The c

gone. Today, I was just

my collarbone. The Rossi family crest. It was a warning to anyone who k

fraction and slipped the necklace through the crack. Symbolically, I was cutting the

I th

d for ivy-draped academia, all red-brick buildings, sprawling

ent

oudly. A group of athletes jogged by in matching grey sweats, tossing a football back and forth under the autumn sun. Snippets of

about survival. "I can do this," I told myself, gripping t

n

n walkway was wide and paved with cobblestones, crowded with students navigating their first day. I dragged m

tice the cr

gine shattered th

massive black Ducati tore around the corner of the library, bypassing the

htened birds, diving onto th

fr

raight toward me. At the last second, the rider wrenched the handlebars. The tires shrieked aga

d my hip by le

n't miss m

the cheap fabric right down the middle. The force of the i

lying across the walkway in a humilia

ringing silence in the quad. My heart hammered violently against my ribs. I st

d the stand down. Then, he pulled off his matte-black h

s, and the kind of arrogant smirk that belonged on a billboard. He

completely

of offering an apology, the guy actually laughed. A

e. I stared at him, my shock instantly evaporating into fury. "You almost killed me.

aping students watching the spectacle. They weren't angr

evi

s I knelt down to gather my scattered

me. He reached into his expensive leather jacket, pulled

my pile

pping with condescension. I looked at the twen

ll. I didn't break eye contact as I pinched the cent

y at his chest. They fluttered

ot

garbage,"

ege in a church. The boy's smirk finally faltered, his dark eyes narro

f my ruined clothes into the broken suitcase, turned on my

to find out exactly w

ommate, a bubbly blonde named Chloe who had watched the whole thing from her third

actically vibrating with a mix of awe

. He was the golden boy. The captain of the elite men's hockey team. A campus celebrity who was already fielding massive contract

ked on. The professors gave him passes, the girls th

gance, his smirk, and the way he made me feel small. I had spent my entire life dealing with arrogant, powerful men

me deeply exhausted. Chloe was fast asleep in the bed across the r

safe. I was normal. I was just a girl who had a bad first day at college. Tomorrow, I

lling over and grabbing it. My screen illuminated the dark room, bli

ked the notification, my thumb hove

WESTBRIDGE,

was an image fi

g on the handle of my suitcase, looking up at the campus with a hopeful, naive

taken only h

room suddenly feeling like they were closing in on me. I ha

was watc