Trapped By My Possessive Billionaire Ex

Keeley pushed open the heavy oak doors of the computer science lecture hall.

The extreme air conditioning of the room hit her bare arms like a wall of ice. A layer of goosebumps instantly erupted across her skin.

She looked down at her thin summer chiffon blouse, silently cursing her senior, Emilee, for bailing on this errand at the last minute.

Clutching the project proposal tightly against her chest, Keeley walked quickly down the tiered aisle toward the VIP seats in the front row.

Her eyes scanned over the rows of seated students and landed on the man sitting in the center guest seat, surrounded by faculty members like a king holding court.

When she saw the sharp, cold profile of his face, Keeley's footsteps jerked to a violent halt.

Her heart felt like it was grabbed by an invisible hand. It squeezed so hard she skipped a massive beat. Her lungs forgot how to process oxygen.

Holland.

Holland Klein.

As if sensing the sudden shift in the air, Holland slowly turned his head away from the professor speaking to him.

Their eyes met. His gaze, dark and deep as an abyss, locked onto her instantly.

A wave of intense suffocation washed over Keeley. Her muscles screamed at her to turn around and run out of the hall.

Professor Alistair noticed her standing frozen in the aisle. He leaned into his microphone and urged her to bring the documents forward, adding with a warm smile, "Ah, perfect timing. Class, please welcome our special guest and this semester's new Guest Teaching Assistant for Advanced Algorithms, Mr. Holland Klein."

Hundreds of eyes in the hall turned to look at her all at once. Her escape route was completely cut off.

Keeley bit down hard on the inside of her cheek. She forced her stiff legs to move, walking toward the man she had successfully hidden from for four entire years.

She reached the conference table. Her hands were shaking slightly as she extended the proposal toward the professor.

Suddenly, Holland reached out with his large, long-fingered hand and intercepted the document mid-air.

As he pulled the paper away, his fingertips dragged heavily and deliberately across the back of Keeley's freezing hand.

Keeley flinched like she had been electrocuted. She snatched her hand back, a flash of pure terror and resistance in her eyes.

The overhead AC vent was blowing directly onto her. The cold air, combined with the shock of his touch, made Keeley shiver visibly. Her shoulders hunched inward.

Holland stopped flipping through the proposal. His dark eyes lowered, staring intently at her trembling shoulders.

A second later, Holland pushed back his heavy leather chair and stood up.

His six-foot-three frame cast a highly oppressive shadow over her. The entire hall fell dead silent.

Under the shocked stares of everyone in the room, Holland took off his five-figure Savile Row bespoke suit jacket.

He stepped around the table with his long legs and walked straight up to Keeley.

The aggressive male pheromones mixed with his signature cold cedarwood cologne completely surrounded her.

With a forceful and undeniable motion, Holland draped the oversized suit jacket over Keeley's thin shoulders.

Keeley's body went completely rigid. Her instinct was to shake off the garment that still carried his body heat.

But Holland's large hands clamped down on her shoulders like iron vices. He leaned in slightly, his mouth hovering just inches from her ear.

"Don't move," he commanded in a low, dark voice that only she could hear. It was dripping with absolute control.

From the back row, Keeley could practically feel the venomous glare of Emilee boring into her spine. A sharp crack echoed faintly-the sound of cheap plastic snapping under immense pressure as her senior undoubtedly realized her catastrophic mistake in skipping out on this errand.

Keeley was forced to clutch the lapels of the massive jacket. Surrounded by the collective gasps of the audience, she had nowhere to run.

Keeley took a deep breath. She tried to slide the heavy fabric off her shoulders to hand it back to Holland.

Holland moved faster. He raised his hands, his long fingers naturally grasping the lapels of the jacket.

He pulled the fabric together at the center of her chest, completely blocking the cold air from hitting her neck.

As he did this, the rough pads of his thumbs brushed deliberately against the sensitive skin of her neck.

A sharp jolt of electricity shot down Keeley's spine. Her body gave a violent jerk.

The extreme cold air, combined with her highly strung nerves, suddenly sent a sharp tickle up her nasal cavity.

Her eyes widened in horror. She tried to cover her nose and mouth, but it was too late.

"Achoo!"

Keeley let out a loud, uncontrollable sneeze.

Because they were standing so close, she sneezed almost directly onto Holland's expensive custom dress shirt.

The lecture hall plunged into a deathly silence. Even the professors in the front row stopped breathing.

From the corner of her eye, Keeley could see Emilee leaning forward in her seat, a cold, expectant smirk twisting her features as she waited for her junior to be thrown out by the distinguished guest.

Keeley's face burned a furious red. She wanted to dig a hole in the floor and bury herself alive.

She stumbled back a step, stammering out a frantic apology, desperate to use this disaster to draw a line between them.

Holland suddenly looked down and let out a low, magnetic chuckle.

The sound of his genuine amusement shattered the frozen atmosphere. Everyone stared in disbelief.

He calmly pulled a dark gray silk handkerchief from his trousers pocket.

He didn't hand it to Keeley. Instead, he raised his hand and wiped the tip of her nose with an agonizingly intimate gesture.

Keeley jerked her head away as if she had been burned by his touch.

A collective, suppressed gasp echoed through the lecture hall. The silence that followed was so thick it felt suffocating, as hundreds of students stared in sheer disbelief at the shockingly gentle act. Professor Alistair awkwardly cleared his throat, desperately trying to break the bizarre tension. He adjusted his glasses and cautiously asked Holland if he knew the student.

Keeley's heart slammed against her ribs. She was terrified he was going to announce their ugly past to the entire room.

Holland slowly folded the handkerchief and put it away. He turned to face the audience.

He looked at Professor Alistair and gave a very natural, negative answer.

Then, he dropped a bomb. He stated that he had been tracking a genius open-source project on GitHub.

He accurately named the core algorithm module Keeley had just pushed to the repository last night.

Using highly technical industry jargon, Holland praised her coding logic to a level that could change the entire tech ecosystem.

Finally, he looked directly into Keeley's eyes. He leaned into the microphone and declared in a low voice that he was an admirer of her academic work.

The room erupted into whispers. The mocking looks instantly turned into extreme jealousy and awe.

Keeley didn't need to turn around to know that Emilee's smirk had completely frozen. The heavy, rigid silence from the back row was palpable, a stark contrast to her senior's earlier arrogance.

Keeley stared at Holland in disbelief. He was a liar, a monster who was pushing her onto a pedestal just to trap her.

From an angle no one else could see, Holland raised an eyebrow at Keeley. His eyes clearly said: You can't escape.

The moment the lecture ended, Keeley yanked the suit jacket off her shoulders and clutched it tightly in her hand.

She kept her head down and merged into the moving crowd, walking as fast as she could toward the side exit.

Just as she was about to step through the doors, a massive, oppressive figure blocked her path.

Keeley slammed on the brakes. She looked up and crashed straight into Holland's half-smiling eyes.

Right then, Emilee squeezed through the crowd, a sickeningly sweet smile plastered on her face.

Emilee held out her gold-embossed resume with both hands, trying to engage Holland in a conversation about industry trends.

Holland didn't even blink. His gaze remained deadlocked on Keeley.

An event organizer's aide stepped in instantly, using a polite but firm stance to physically block Emilee away, redirecting her back to the student section.

Emilee stood frozen with her resume in the air. The students around them threw her mocking glances.

Holland ignored everything around him. He held out his large, long-fingered hand toward Keeley.

Using a tone that allowed zero room for argument, he told Keeley to take out her phone and add him on LinkedIn.

Keeley gripped the straps of her backpack tightly. She coldly refused, saying she would dry-clean the jacket and mail it to his company.

Holland leaned in slightly. "I want to discuss your open-source code," he said, his voice dropping to a volume only she could hear.

Keeley gritted her teeth and lied. She said she got a new phone and hadn't downloaded the LinkedIn app yet.

Holland let out a short laugh. "Did you really think the university's emergency contact registry was secure from the man funding their new cybersecurity lab?" His thin lips parted, and he accurately recited a ten-digit phone number. It was Keeley's highly private, brand-new number she had just changed last week.

A chill ran down Keeley's spine. Her fingers tightened around the jacket. He'd found her again. Of course he had.

Holland ordered her to open iMessage and add him right now.

The students in the hallway stopped walking. They looked at Keeley with envious eyes, wishing a tech giant would beg for their contact info.

Crushed by the psychological pressure and the public audience, Keeley's trembling hand reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She tried to lock the screen, but Holland was faster.

The second the screen lit up, Holland reached out and snatched the device right out of her hand.

Keeley let out a gasp. She tried to grab it back, but he easily blocked her with his forearm.

Holding her phone in one hand, Holland's long thumb swiped rapidly across the screen.

He navigated straight to her Settings and opened the Blocked Contacts list.

At the very bottom of the long list, a contact named "HK" sat quietly.

A dangerous curve appeared on the corner of Holland's mouth. He tapped 'Unblock'.

Then, he pulled out his own phone and dialed the number. Keeley's phone immediately started vibrating in his hand.

Satisfied, Holland ended the call and shoved the phone back into Keeley's stiff fingers.

He gave her a deeply meaningful look. "See you soon," he said.

Surrounded by the lingering awe of the students, he turned and walked away with unhurried, predatory grace.

Keeley looked down at the glowing screen. A new message from HK popped up: Hi, again.

Her throat closed up. She couldn't breathe.