All Chapters of My Professor’s Obsession: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

78 Chapters

The Fallout Begins

The helicopter was so loud it made the windows in the penthouse shake. I looked out the glass and saw the bright searchlights dancing over the city streets. My phone wouldn't stop buzzing. It felt like a tiny heart beating in my hand. Every time I looked at the screen, there were thousands of new messages."Caspian, the lights are still out," I said. I stayed close to the wall. "Why aren't the backups working?""They cut the main line," Caspian said. He was standing by the desk, the light from his laptop making his face look blue. "But they were too late. The images are out. Look at the numbers, Sera. Five million shares in twenty minutes.""Five million?" I walked over and looked at the screen. People were calling it The Painting of Secrets. "Everyone is talking about the jars. They're looking up the names of the people who disappeared.""The University just locked its gates," Caspian said. He hit a key, and a security feed from the campus appeared. "The students are out of their dor

Headlines and Lies

The grey car stopped in a garage that smelled like old tires and damp concrete. Caspian didn't let me out right away. He was staring at a tablet, his face lit up by the glow of a hundred news articles. I leaned over his shoulder, and my stomach did a somersault."Caspian, why is my high school photo on the news?" I asked. "And why does it say 'The Girl Who Cried Corruption'?""Because they can't fight the bank numbers," Caspian said. He handed me the tablet. "So they are fighting you. Look at the lead story on the Global Feed."I read it out loud. My voice was shaking. "Sources say Seraphina St. Claire was failing her classes and faced expulsion before 'discovering' the archives. Is this a whistleblow, or a student trying to blackmail her way into a degree?""I wasn't failing!" I shouted. "I had a 4.0! You know that, you were my professor!""It doesn't matter what I know, Sera," Caspian said. "It matters that the University just deleted your student records. They are telling the press

Helena’s Damage Control

The rain was drumming on the roof of the car as we sat in the dark alley. Caspian was staring at a small TV screen glued to the back of the seat. A woman with very white hair and a very expensive pearl necklace was sitting on a plush sofa. It was Helena. She looked like she was about to cry, but her eyes were dry and sharp."She’s on every channel, Caspian," I said. "She looks so nice. People are going to believe her.""That is her best trick, Sera," Caspian said. He turned up the volume. "She acts like everyone’s grandmother so she can hide the claws."On the screen, the news man leaned in. "Mrs. Blackwood, the world is shocked by your grandson’s paintings. Is it true? Is the university stealing from students?""Oh, heavens no," Helena said. She gave a small, sad laugh. "My grandson is a very sick man. He has always had a overactive imagination. We believe he has had a mental breakdown. These paintings... they are just the scribbles of a person who has lost his way.""She’s calling y

Dominic Tries to Reclaim the Story

We were driving toward the campus, but the traffic was blocked. I looked at the car’s dashboard screen. A video was playing on every news site. It was Dominic. He wasn't wearing his fancy leather jacket or his school tie. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and he looked like he had been crying. He was sitting on a bench in the middle of the school park, holding a picture of me."Look at this," I said, pointing at the screen. "Dominic is on a live stream. There are a hundred thousand people watching him right now.""He’s a Calloway," Caspian said, his voice flat. "He knows how to play the part of the broken-hearted boy. It's his best move."I turned up the sound. Dominic’s voice was shaky. "I just want her back," Dominic said into the camera. "Sera and I were happy. We were going to be together. And then he came along. He used his grades and his money to trick her. He’s a monster, and I’m just a guy who lost the girl he loves.""He’s lying!" I shouted. "We weren't happy! He was mean

Sera Refuses to Disappear

The car stopped behind the university's old power plant. The air smelled like wet coal and rain. I could hear the shouting of the students a few blocks away. It sounded like a storm that wouldn't stop."Elias says the front doors are a trap," Caspian said. He handed me a small black earpiece. "The police are waiting for us to walk in so they can take us to Helena. We have to use the maintenance tunnel.""I'm not hiding in a tunnel anymore, Caspian," I said. I stood out of the car and let the rain hit my face. "Dominic is telling everyone I'm a scared little girl. If I crawl through a hole in the ground, he’s right.""Sera, this isn't about being brave," Caspian said. He stood next to me, holding an umbrella over my head. "It's about getting to the microphone before they shut us down. If you walk across the lawn, they’ll tackle you before you say a word.""Then let them tackle me," I said. "Let the students see them do it. Let the cameras see them dragging a girl away for trying to tal

Elias Offers a Different Truth

The sun was trying to come out, but the air still felt cold and wet. Caspian was busy talking to a group of reporters near the fountain. He looked like the hero everyone wanted him to be. But Elias was standing in the shadow of the library, waving me over. He looked like he had seen a ghost."Sera," Elias whispered when I got close. "Don't look at the cameras. Just walk with me.""What’s wrong, Elias?" I asked. I followed him behind a big stone pillar. "We won. Arthur is with the police. The students are happy.""We won a battle, kid. We didn't win the war," Elias said. He pulled a thick yellow folder from under his coat. It was stained with water. "And you need to know who you’re standing next to before the floor drops out from under you.""If this is about the 'missing girl' again, I already know," I said. "Caspian told me about Elena. He said he failed to save her.""He told you the nice version," Elias said. He handed me a piece of paper from the folder. It was a hospital record f

A Family Built on Secrets

I sat in a small, cramped bathroom stall in the library. My hands were shaking so much I almost dropped the yellow folder onto the wet floor. I pulled out the last few pages. They weren't just letters; they were receipts for hush money. I saw names of judges, names of newspapers, and names of people I thought were "good guys.""Sera? Are you in there?"I jumped. It was the girl from the Registrar’s office—Beth. The one who looked like Elena. She wasn't wearing a hoodie now. She was wearing a janitor’s uniform."Go away," I said, trying to hide the folder under my shirt."I saw Elias give you the yellow papers," Beth said. She stood right outside the stall door. "He shouldn't have done that. It’s dangerous to know how the machine works, Sera. Once you see the gears, you can't un-see them.""Are you Elena?" I asked. I pushed the door open. My heart was thumping against the papers."Elena is a ghost the Blackwoods use to scare people," she said. She looked at me with very tired eyes. "My

Vane’s New Problem

I left the library through a side door to avoid the cameras. I didn't want to see Caspian, and I didn't want to see the police. I just wanted to find a quiet place to breathe. But as I reached the edge of the parking lot, I saw a familiar face. Vane was leaning against a rusty truck. He looked messy, and his hands were shaking."Vane?" I ran over to him. "How did you get here? I thought you were at the Blackwood house!""They let me go, Sera," Vane said. He looked over his shoulder like he was being chased. "But it wasn't a gift. They sent me with a message.""Who sent you? Dominic? Helena?" I grabbed his arms. "Are you hurt? Did they do something to you?""I’m okay, but I’m not okay," Vane said. He pulled a heavy, silver phone out of his pocket. It wasn't his phone. "They gave me this. They told me that if I don't give it to you, they’re going to tell the police I was the one who helped the Calloways set the fire in the woods.""That’s a lie!" I shouted. "You were nowhere near the wo

Caspian Loses Patience

"Stay in the car, Vane, and don’t you dare touch that door handle until I tell you it’s safe," Caspian said, his voice dropping into a register that made the hair on my arms stand up.We were parked in the shadow of a warehouse that looked like it hadn't seen a living soul since the eighties. The engine was still ticking, cooling down after the way Caspian had pushed it to get us away from the campus. The air inside the car was thick and hot, smelling like leather and the sharp, metallic tang of fear."Caspian, you’re shaking," I whispered, reaching out to touch his arm.He flinched away from my hand like I’d burned him. He didn't look at me. He just stared out the windshield at the rain-slicked pavement. "I am not shaking, Sera. I am deciding which of my relatives I’m going to ruin first. There is a difference.""You used my brother," I said, and the words felt like broken glass in my throat. "You let him walk into a trap just so you could have a bigger stick to hit Arthur with. How

The Move South

"Get in the car, Sera, and don't look back at the house, because there’s nothing left in there that belongs to us anymore," Caspian said.His voice sounded like gravel grinding together. He didn't help me with my bag this time. He was too busy scanning the tree line, his hand resting near the waistband of his trousers where I knew he’d started carrying a heavy, dark piece of metal he hadn't needed a week ago. We left the salt-air cabin in the middle of the night, while the moon was still high and the shadows were long enough to hide a moving car. Vane was already in the back seat, staring out the window with eyes that looked like they’d forgotten how to blink."Where are we going, Caspian? You said south, but south is a big place," I said, leaning my head against the cool glass of the window."Georgia," he muttered, swinging the wheel hard to avoid a pothole in the dirt track. "I have a property outside of Savannah. It’s held under a shell company that even Helena hasn't touched in tw

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