Free Master Class: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (+ Bonus Book 'Silent Daughter 1') by Linnea May

from us."
    "No less," I repeat. "Anything else would be less?"
    She lowers the cup of coffee and looks at me, eyes wide in surprise. "Yes, of course."
    "See," I point out. "And that's where you are wrong. Where your whole family is wrong."
    I expect some kind of reaction from her. Indignation, backtalk, outrage. But she just sits there and looks at me, her shoulders tense, her beautiful eyes wide open, her imaginary puppy ears upright with attention. She looks at me as if I just expressed something she has been assuming for years, but never dared to say out loud.
    "When I asked you what your goal in life was, you didn't tell me what you want to do, you just told me what you are going to do," I add. "You said you think you might be a good scholar, just like the rest of your family, and you told me what you're going to do next, but you never said that this is what you want to do."
    Again, she doesn't say anything. Instead, she starts chewing on her lip, just like she did earlier. Topped with anew fluttering of her black lashes she really looks like a trapped butterfly altogether. Hauntingly beautiful and so fucking vulnerable.
    "You're thinking in steps - in your case, degrees," I continue. "You're completing one level after another, a life of graduations and certificates. To me it sounds as if going to school is an end in itself for you, and not a means to an end."
    "Becoming a professor is a goal," she interjects. "An end."
    "Yes, sure," I say. "So that is what you want? you want to become a professor?"
    She continues to chew on her lower lip, so much so that I'm starting to worry she might hurt herself.
    "It's not that easy," she mutters. "I mean, getting a tenure-track position is very, very hard. They're so competitive. If I don't get one as soon as possible after completing the PhD, it'll be close to impossible and I'm left with nothing."
    "But is it what you want ?" I ask her.
    She shrugs. "Maybe. Why not?"
    I shake my head. "It cannot surprise you that this doesn't sound convincing at all to me."
    "I don't know," she adds, surprisingly loud. Her eyes wander back to her lap, lashes fluttering as she watches her fingers, playing with the black ceramic ring. "I never really thought about it."
    I watch her as she nervously plays with her fingers, her shoulders lowering in defeat and the fluttering of her eyelashes accompanying her active mind working through a sea of thoughts.
    This is a first. I've had confrontations similar to this one, but I never saw anyone crack as quickly as she just did. I almost feel bad for causing this commotion.
    "You never dared to look at the options that lie behind the label of less," I formulate. "Because who really wants to be less, am I right?"
    She lifts her eyes up to mine, her face is shrouded by an unreadable expression. "I guess so."
    "It takes a strong person to confidently stand above such nonsense," I say, reaching for my own cup of coffee.
    "Such as you?" She asks, casting me a condescending look.
    I nod. "Exactly."
    "Success made you arrogant," she states. "It's not a very attractive quality."
    I smile at her, unfazed.
    "People now come to me for advice," I say. "I've been successful at what I do, because I have a passion for it. I found a path that is different, and probably more difficult, than the ordinary route - and I made it mine. I own this success. I think I have every right to be proud of it."
    "Pride is not the same as arrogance," she inserts.
    "They're practically twins."
    I lean back in my chair, my eyes never leaving hers.
    "Do you know what an Angel investor is?"
    She shakes her head no.
    "People like me," I explain. "People with assets and a good comprehension of the market. Young start-ups not only ask for my advice, the ask for my money, too. We're called Angels, because we serve as a guarantee in making dreams come true."
    She furls her eyebrows. "Why are you telling me this?"
    "I'm telling you, because this is the part of my success that I enjoy the most," I