Gabriel was silent, slowly clenching and unclenching his fists.

Jeremy swore loudly and was about to turn away when Gabriel caught his arm. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s too late for apologies.”

“I didn’t realize this would have implications for you and everyone else. I wasn’t thinking.” Gabriel paused, a tortured look on his face. “Help us. Please.”

Jeremy stared in disbelief. Professor Emerson looked panicked and desperate, which was an expression he’d never seen before. “You’ve done a tremendous amount of damage trying to protect her. You should have denied everything.”

“Then the Dean would have punished her or dragged the investigation out.”

“She could have re-applied next year.”

“And been turned down outright. The longer the investigation continued, the more likely that details would be leaked. It’s a small academic community and you know it.”

“Of course I know it.” Jeremy shook his head. “And you knew better than to fuck a student.”

Gabriel’s face reddened and he took a menacing step forward. “I didn’t fuck her.”

“The hell you didn’t. Now we’re all fucked,” Jeremy snapped.

Gabriel’s nostrils flared as he held back an angry retort.

Jeremy gave his friend a long, searching look. “My first priority is to my department. But I don’t want to see you or Julianne ruined. Enough young women have suffered at the hands of their professors, don’t you agree?”

Gabriel was silent, his lips pressed together.

“I’ll help you, but we’re doing this my way. Do you understand? I’m not risking everything so you can turn around and fuck it up again.”

Gabriel paused. Then he nodded his agreement.

“Now all I have to do is convince the Dean to be satisfied with an ounce of your flesh rather than a pound.”

With barely an acknowledgement, Jeremy walked to the front of the room and joined the hearing officers in their deliberations.

Gabriel hung his head, breathing a restrained sigh of relief.

Chapter 25

By the time Meagan ushered the ladies back into the room, Julia’s fingernails had been chewed to the quick and Soraya’s adrenaline was at an all-time high.

Julia’s eyes were drawn immediately to Gabriel, and what she saw upset her. His shoulders were hunched, and he was leaning forward in his chair, hands clasped between his knees tensely, head lowered.

She stared at him, willing him to look at her.

But he wouldn’t.

Professor Martin sat next to Gabriel, arms crossed against his chest. He didn’t appear happy.

“Miss Mitchell, allow me to come straight to the point. In light of Professor Emerson’s testimony, you are excused. We will be informing the Registrar’s Office that the grade assigned to you in Professor Emerson’s seminar should be allowed to stand.”

Julia’s mouth opened in shock at the Dean’s pronouncement.

“We will do our utmost to ensure that you are not victimized further.” The Dean glared in Gabriel’s direction. “If Professor Emerson troubles you in any way, or if you have concerns about the repercussions of your former involvement with him, please inform Professor Martin immediately.

“You are free to pursue a harassment complaint against Professor Emerson, but you must do so within sixty days of the submission of your final academic work in your program.”

The Dean nodded at Soraya. “I’m sure your lawyer will explain the particulars of the harassment policy to you. I know you’ve filed a complaint against Miss Peterson, but we’re hopeful that you and she can drop your complaints against each other, given the outcome of this hearing. You’re free to go.”

He began shuffling his paperwork.

“Thank you, Dr. Aras.” Soraya smiled widely and exchanged a nod and a meaningful look with Tara.

“I’m not a victim,” said Julia, stubbornly.

“Pardon?” said the Dean, peering over the rims of his glasses.

“I said, I’m not a victim. Our relationship is consensual.” She turned to look at Gabriel. “What’s going on?”

Gabriel kept his eyes fixed on the floor.

“Miss Mitchell, the committee has ensured that Professor Emerson was given due consideration.” Professor Mwangi spoke to her gently. “But in light of his confession, we are holding him accountable for his actions. And that includes seeing to your welfare.”

“My welfare is tied to him. If he’s going to be punished, then punish me too.” She took a step closer to the table behind which the committee sat.

Gabriel’s head shot up, and he gave Julia a furious look.

“Miss Mitchell, the university has a duty to protect students from being preyed upon by their supervisors. Please, let us do our job.” Professor Chakravartty’s tone was not unsympathetic.

“We did this together. If he’s guilty, so am I.”

“Not necessarily.”

“Then tell me what he said! Give me a chance to respond.” Julia looked desperately at the faces of the hearing officers, one after the other, hoping that someone, anyone would relent.

“Professor Emerson has admitted to engaging in an inappropriate relationship with you while you were his student. Professor Picton has confirmed that she marked your work in his seminar and supervised your thesis. So we are inclined to be lenient with him. Unless you insist otherwise.”

“Of course I insist otherwise! I want you to let him go.”

The hearing officers shook their heads.

“Why do you believe him instead of me? I’m the student. You should weigh my testimony more heavily. He didn’t hurt me. You have to believe me!” Julia grew desperate, on the verge of tears.

“Miss Harandi, control your client.” The Dean’s voice rose with irritation.

“Please,” said Julia, taking a step closer to the hearing officers. “You have to believe me. Let him go!”

“We will ask you and all other parties to sign a confidentiality agreement that is as much for your protection as for the integrity of these proceedings. Once again, if you have further difficulties, you are to inform Professor Martin.” The Dean nodded at Soraya.

“Come on, Julia.” Soraya tugged on her arm, in vain. “Let’s go before they change their mind.”

“Gabriel, what happened?”

Julia took a step in his direction, but the pointed toe of her boot got caught in the carpet and she tumbled to her knees.

Finally her eyes connected with Gabriel’s as he looked down on her. She inhaled slowly as she realized that his dark blue eyes were cold and empty. He lowered his head.

In an instant, the fire in her veins turned to ice.

Chapter 26

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Soraya leaned back against the vanity in the ladies’ washroom while her client sat crying softly in a chair. She pulled her BlackBerry out of her briefcase, scrolling through her emails before returning the cursed device to its former resting place.

“I know John. His plan would have been to say nothing, then file a lawsuit. He would have tried to show that everything was your fault, setting the groundwork for Gabriel’s defense. He never would have agreed to this kind of outcome.”

Soraya fixed her client with a stern eye. “Do you know something? Some secret that Gabriel might worry would come out? Something extremely damaging?”

Julia shook her head vehemently. Gabriel’s drug use was in the past as was his rampant promiscuity, including his encounter with Professor Singer. Of course, there was the small matter of the black market Botticelli prints, but she would never reveal their existence to anyone, least of all to Soraya.

“Are you sure?” The attorney’s eyes narrowed.

“There’s nothing.” Julia sniffled, wiping her nose with a tissue.

Soraya tossed her long, dark hair. “Then he must be keeping secrets from you too. I can’t imagine what would be more damaging to him than confessing to having an inappropriate relationship with you. I thought you told me you didn’t sleep with him until December?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why would he tell them you were together while you were still his student?”

“Do you think they fired him?” Julia changed the subject.

“No.” Soraya exhaled loudly. “Emerson is tenured and from the body language in the room, he has the support of his Chair. But who knows? David is a self-righteous bastard.”

“You don’t think Gabriel was lying to protect me?”

Soraya smothered a patronizing smile, for really, it would have been inappropriate to smile at that moment. “Human beings are selfish. He was protecting himself—hiding some secret that he didn’t want to come out or trading a confession for leniency. Gabriel went rogue and refused to let John fight the charges. Otherwise, we’d still be sitting in the hall, waiting.”

Julia stood at the sink and washed her face and hands, trying to make herself appear presentable.

Soraya shook her head. “I don’t mean to be callous, but I really don’t think you should be wasting your tears on him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m sure you were an intriguing diversion, in comparison to his other women. He probably said pretty things so you’d screw him and keep your mouth shut. But men like him can’t be trusted. And they never change.” She continued hurriedly as she saw the horrified expression on Julia’s face.

“I wasn’t going to mention this, but a friend of mine hooked up with him a couple of times. They met at a club about a year ago and ended up fucking in the washroom.

“One day last fall, he called her out of the blue. One more hook up and she never saw or heard from him again. It was as if he’d vanished.” Soraya measured Julia’s reaction. “Why would you want to be with someone like that? He was probably screwing other women the entire time he was with you.”

“You don’t know him. Don’t judge him.” Julia’s voice was quietly aggressive.

Soraya simply shrugged and dug around in her briefcase for her lipstick.

Julia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to process these new revelations.

Gabriel and I started getting close last fall—was he sleeping with someone else when he was sending me flowers and emails?Was he lying to me about Paulina?

Julia didn’t know what to believe. Her heart told her to believe Gabriel, but she couldn’t deny the fact that Soraya had planted a seed of doubt.

They walked into the hallway and headed for the stairs, hoping to make their escape.

John and Gabriel were doing the same thing. Neither of the men looked happy.

“Gabriel!” Julia called.

John glared in her direction. “Let’s go, Gabriel. You can’t be seen with her.”

Julia looked over into conflicted blue eyes. He didn’t look disgusted anymore; he looked sober and anxious.

“Haven’t you done enough damage for one day?” spat his attorney as Julia took a hesitant step in their direction.