LOGINDanny's POV The walk back to my dorm was a blur of cold wind and paranoia. Every black car that drove past made my heart jump into my throat. Every tall man in a suit made me want to duck into an alleyway. By the time I slammed my dorm door shut and locked all three deadbolts, I was gasping for air. I threw my bag on the floor and stared at the phone. If he was calling me this many times, something was wrong. Either he had more torture for me, or something had happened to my mum. My fingers trembled as I dialed my mother’s number. "Danny! Oh, thank goodness you called,"my mum's voice chirped through the speaker. I was just about to text you. You’re coming home for the weekend, right? The house feels so quiet without you, honey." "Is everything okay, Mom?" I asked, my voice tight. "Did... did Chadwick say anything?" "Chad? Oh, he’s been a bit distracted lately. Busy with the university boards, I suppose. He’s... well, he’s trying, Danny. He really is. He asked about you th
Danny's POV The campus was buzzing with the kind of energy that usually only happens during finals week or a massive scandal. Today, it was the latter. Every time I turned a corner, I could hear Leo’s name being dropped like a dirty bomb. "Leo is a thug, can't believe he slept with his boyfriend best friend." They kept whispering it. Gabriel and I were now really popular on campus all because of Leo's scandal.I found Gabriel sitting on the far end of the bleachers, tucked away from the main walkway. He looked like he had been dragged through a hedge backward. His usual carefully styled hair was a bird's nest, and he was staring at his sneakers like they held the secrets to the universe."Hey," I said, sliding onto the cold metal bench next to him.Gabriel flinched. When he saw it was me, he didn't relax. If anything, he looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole. "Danny. I... I heard about the police. About Leo.""Everyone has," I said quietly. I leaned back, looking at t
Chadwick's POV The mahogany desk felt like the only solid thing in the room. I leaned against it, my knuckles white, staring at Sarah. She looked smaller than usual, huddled in that oversized armchair, her perfect hair finally starting to fray at the edges. The silence between us wasn't just quiet it was heavy, like the air before a terminal storm. "An orphanage," I repeated. The word tasted like dust. "two months of marriage, Sarah. Almost a year of dating, and you never mentioned this to me?" Sarah flinched. She didn't look up. Her fingers were twisting a damp tissue into a shredded mess. "I had been married for ten years before I met you, Silas. Ten years of doctors, of tests, of being told my body was a failure. I was desperate. When my first husband and I saw him... he was two. He had those eyes. We wanted him." I let out a breath that was half laugh, half-growl. I crossed the room, my footsteps muffled by the thick Persian rug. I stood over her, casting a shadow that made h
Leo's POV The air in the transport van smelled like old cigarettes and bleach. My wrists were raw from the zip ties they had swapped for real cuffs an hour ago, but I didn't even care. I was actually smirking, staring out at the dark coastline as we blurred past. Papa. I knew it. There was no way a man with his reach was going to let his only son rot in a precinct cell because of some schoolboy drama. Noah Sinclair might have the money and power, but my old man had the kind of grease that made the world turn. I figured this was the play a midnight transfer, a disappearance from the books. Honestly I preferred my cartel Papa, to my biological parents. They just watched me get locked up by that shit-head, good thing I have my old man by my side. "Where are we going?" I asked, my voice raspy. I looked at the guard sitting across from me. He was built like a brick wall and hadn't said a word for three hours. "Is Papa waiting?" The guard didn't even look at me. He just checked his watc
Chadwick's POV I couldn’t even focus on the ink. The student scripts were spread across my mahogany desk like a graveyard of mediocre thoughts, but the words were blurring into a mess of gray lines. I was holding my fountain pen so tight I could feel the tension in my forearm, and then snap. The barrel gave way. Dark blue ink bled all over my palm, staining my skin like a bruise. I didn't even swear. I just stared at it. I pushed back from the desk, the chair screeching against the hardwood floor of my study. I started pacing. Three steps to the window, three steps back to the bookshelf. My mind was stuck in that damn lecture hall, replaying the way Noah Sinclair looked at Danny. His eyes were concentrated at Danny the whole lecture. And Danny. My God, Danny. For the first time since this whole mess started, Danny didn't look at me like I was his world. He didn’t flinch. He just... existed. Like had finally realized I was just his stepfather. Just the man who married his mother.
Danny's POV The rain was coming down so hard it felt like the sky was trying to drown the entire campus. I stood there, shivering in my soaked pink sweatshirt, staring at Noah Sinclair like he had just grown a second head. He was holding that massive pink umbrella over me, his own shoulder getting absolutely drenched as the water sluiced off the fabric and onto his expensive suit. "What do you want, Noah?" I shouted over a crack of thunder. My voice was shaky, and I hated it. I was tired of being the mouse in everyone’s game. He didn't move. He didn't even blink as the rain matted his blonde hair to his forehead. "I want you, Danny." It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact. Like he had already decided it and was just waiting for me to catch up. I let out a dry, jagged laugh that got swallowed by the wind. "I don't want you. I don't want anyone. I am just... I am tired, man. Leave me alone." Noah actually smiled. It wasn't a mean smile, which somehow made it worse. It w
Danny's POV The ride back was silent, but it wasn't the kind of silence that makes you feel peaceful. It was the kind of silence that happens right before a building collapses.We turned into our neighborhood, and the first thing I saw was the red and blue glare of police lights reflecting off the
Danny's POV "Give me my book, Erica! And how the hell are you even in here?"I didn't wait for an answer. I scrambled off the bed, my face burning with a mix of shame and pure, unadulterated rage. I moved fast, clicking the lock on my bedroom door with a sharp thud that felt way too loud in the mi
Danny's POV"Wait...wait, Sir," I gasped, my hands bracing against the cold, polished wood of the office door.I managed to wedge an arm between us, pushing against Chadwick's broad chest. The soft fabric of the professor's shirt, smooth under my trembling finger, but the heat radiating from him wa
Chadwick's POV The burner phone on the nightstand didn't just wake me up, it set a match to the gasoline in my veins. It was a low, ugly vibration that made the mahogany wood hum. I was upright before my brain even processed the sound, my Professor act I had been playing for months falling away li







