Julian's Torment (Mafia Heirs 3)

She’s my least favorite professor here. I detest the woman.

“Yeah, Francesca, you need to focus and stop salivating over the other students,” Adrianna bites out next to me.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes and return to my canvas just as Adrianna gets up and carries a pot of water murky with paint to the sink. On her way, she pretends to trip and showers my painting in the dirty water. I stare helplessly as the water drips off the canvas. The project I’ve been working on for hours is ruined.

“I can’t believe you did that,” I hiss at Adrianna, who’s staring at me with a triumphant smile.

“Well, you better fucking believe it, bitch,” she snarls at me, getting up close to hiss at me some more. “You’d better take your hungry fucking eyes off Julian Bernardi. He’s mine.”

I fight the response on the tip of my tongue, knowing full well it’s not worth arguing with her. She’s only going to make my life worse if I dare go up against her.

I try to meet Julian’s gaze, silently begging him to help me, but he won’t look at me. And why should he? I’ve hurt him too much in the past for him to give a damn about my troubles.

“What the hell happened here?” Miss Ricci snarls when she sees my dripping canvas.

Adrianna snickers next to me along with her gaggle of mean girls. Miss Ricci glances at them, then me. It doesn’t take a fucking genius to realize what happened.

“Nothing,” I mutter, keeping my gaze on the canvas. “It’s fine. I’ll just start over.”

“Adrianna, did you do this?”

A silence falls over the classroom as our professor addresses the main mean girl. Adrianna purses her lips and glares at the older woman with pure hatred in her eyes.

“How is that important, Miss Ricci?” my classmate purrs. “I was just trying to help her. Actually, I think the painting looks better now.”

The other girls giggle but Miss Ricci just sighs. “That’s unacceptable, Adrianna. Don’t you have any manners? I think you should start over, too.”

“What?” Adrianna shoots daggers at the older woman. “I’ve done nothing wrong and my painting is fine!”

Unceremoniously, Miss Ricci grabs the pot of water off my desk and empties it over Adrianna’s canvas, sweetly saying, “Not anymore. It seems.”

Adrianna and the rest of our classmates look gobsmacked. Even Julian’s paying attention now.

“You can’t do that!” Adrianna snaps. “You just ruined my painting!”

“And what are you going to do about it?” Miss Ricci asks sweetly. “Tell your papa?”

Adrianna purses her lips and storms out of the classroom without another word. Miss Ricci turns to face the rest of the class with her hands on her curvy hips. She really is an attractive woman, and I have some newfound respect for her now that I’ve seen her deal with this situation.

“Anyone else got a problem with Francesca can meet me after class,” she says firmly. “I’ll deal with you then.”

The classroom is deathly silent. The professor doesn’t look at me, but she gives Julian a long stare before returning to her desk. The rest of us return to our work.

I can feel the flush on my cheeks for the rest of the lesson and I’m relieved once the bell signifies the end of class. I rush outside with my books. As grateful as I am for Miss Ricci finally holding up her end of the deal, I also know this could mean a world of trouble for me. Adrianna won’t just let me forget about what happened. She’ll do everything in her power to get back at me, even though all of this was her fault.

I’m on edge as I make my way to the bathrooms. Washing off the paint from my hands, I take deep breaths and force myself to calm down a little. I quickly wash my face and hands in there, saying a soft prayer for my safety just as the door of one stall opens. Three girls come out. One of them is Adrianna, the other two are her main cronies. And they’re headed directly for me.

“Think you can act that way and not get punished?” Adrianna snarls at me. “Just because you got that witch on your side doesn’t mean you can run from me for ever.”

“Please,” I get out, nervously glancing between the three of them. “I had nothing to do with it.”

“Sure,” Adrianna spits out. “The bitch was defending you for some reason. You may think you’ve won, but this is far from fucking over.”

She clicks her fingers and the other two girls approach me. They pull out tubes of red paint from behind their backs and start emptying them all over me. I shriek and try to fight them, but it’s no use. In moments, my clothes are covered in red paint.