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He pushed harder. “Puta, you wasted no time getting knocked up like a commoner after I threw you away. You think your shame can contaminate me, an Orlando. You are a fool.”
Amara was close to panic.
The tide turned with some help from Jaslene, who shoved in beside her and pushed back at Frederik. “Get out of here, crazy man. I’ve already called campus police.”
Frederik laughed mirthlessly. “For what? For wanting to see the bastard prince?” He said it with a revolting sneer.
Between the two women, they held him off but were unable to push him backward.
“You think you can win,” Frederik said, his breath overpowering with the stench of rot and decay. “You try to ruin me, but you cannot. They will see I was right, that you lie and cheat, that your work is a fraud and, you denied my rightful ownership of the Carrington Award. Your child is a bas —”
“That’s enough, Orlando,” a male voice broke in. “Come on, let’s go.”
“You heard him. Leave the lady be,” another male voice added, as a man reached out grabbing Frederik’s arm.
Amara could barely see past Frederik to identify the newcomers. With a mixture of relief and embarrassment, she recognized Pete and James, two professors in the department.
“Do not touch me,” Frederik blustered, turning and pushing the men. “I will not be handled by such as you.”
“Handling you isn’t exactly on my bucket list,” Pete said dryly. “If you’ll get the hell out of here you won’t have to worry about us touching you again.”
Frederik raised his chin, twisted free of James’ hold and stomped into the hallway. “It is enough, anyway. I have said what I came to say.”
“Good, then make like the wolf you are and tuck tail back to your den,” Jaslene said loudly.
“Shh,” Amara urged her friend in a whisper. “Don’t antagonize him.”
Jaslene silently gestured her apology with a grimace.
Frederik looked down his nose at all of them, his smirk coming to rest on Amara. “You stole what should have been mine. All great men have their day, no matter how others try to keep them down. And I will have my day. I swear to all that is holy. I will have mine.”
A foreboding shudder skittered down Amara’s back. She didn’t respond to him, however, only looked in the other direction, thinking of how her grandmother once told her to never meet the eyes of a predator.
Frederik stalked away, and everyone watched him go. When he was gone, Pete turned to Amara.
“I’m sorry that got so out of hand,” he said. “I hate to say it, but you need to report this to Dean Wilson.”
James nodded his agreement, and Jaslene chimed in, as well.
“No,” Amara said. “He was just letting off steam. He’s under a lot of stress.”
Jaslene’s brows rose. “Why are you making excuses for that piece of human excre —”
“He’s a fiery type, that’s all,” Amara said.
Pete and James looked unconvinced.
“That’s not fiery,” Pete said. “It’s looking more and more like unhinged. The dean needs to hear about this. You don’t know what Orlando’s been saying about you behind your back.”
“I can guess. I’ll think about telling the dean,” she said, though she knew she wouldn’t. “I appreciate you coming and helping us out. Thanks.”
The two men departed graciously, though she thought she heard James tell Pete quietly that he was going to tell the dean no matter what Amara wound up doing. Damn.
Amara and Jaslene slipped back into her office. This time, Amara shut and locked her door, just in case Frederik decided to return.
Jaslene gazed down at the snoozing Hampton. “Thank God. He’s sleeping.”
Amara lightly touched his springy hair. “Guess he wasn’t ready to wake up from his nap after all. Did you actually call campus police?”
