Chapter 1

Crack!

A slap landed across my face without warning, hard enough that my vision blurred at the edges.

Half my face went numb instantly. My ears rang.

The person who'd hit me was my own mother, Valerie Winslet. She stood there jabbing a finger at my nose, her perfectly maintained face twisted with fury.

"Nick! You shameless, poisonous wretch! How did we ever raise a son as disgusting as you?

"You're a lost cause who can't even hold yourself together, and you spent a whole year dropped out of school running wild. Now you actually have the nerve to pull some underhanded trick and steal Bill's acceptance letter to Braxton University?

"Do you have any idea what you've done? Because of your selfishness and vanity, Bill's years of hard work are worthless now. You've dragged the entire Cyrus name through the mud!"

We were standing in one of the Cyrus family's private estates. Today's event had originally been planned as a college send-off party for my brother, Bill Cyrus.

His acceptance letter hadn't officially arrived yet, but a month earlier, Bill had already sworn to everyone that his practice scores were sky-high, and that Braxton had all but locked in his spot. Eager to show off the family's standing, the Cyruss had thrown this lavish party ahead of time.

The hall was packed. Wealthy guests had come to watch the show, alongside the ashen-faced dean of discipline from one of the city's top prep schools.

Off to one side stood my brother, his face dark, his fists clenched. His eyes burned with restrained fury, his jaw tight enough to crack. Anyone looking at him would have assumed he'd suffered some terrible injustice.

Just a few minutes earlier, I'd finished my first year of classes at Braxton and come home to spend the summer. Instead of a warm welcome from my parents, I'd walked straight into Bill's ambush.

"Mom... don't hit him yet. This is my fault," Bill said, his voice low, gripping the hem of Valerie's dress. "I didn't protect my application password well enough. I shouldn't have topped the rankings all the time. It must have put too much pressure on my brother.

"He's never measured up to me, not since we were kids. A whole year out of school probably meant a lot of people looking down on him too.

"He just wanted Mom and Dad's approval so badly. He wanted to know what it felt like to go to a top school, so in a moment of weakness, he had someone swap out my spot for him...

"If... if Nick really wants Braxton that badly, I'll give it up. Let him have the spot. I'll just retake the exam next year..."

Listen to that. What touching brotherly devotion. What a noble, selfless sacrifice.

Anyone who didn't know better might actually have been moved to tears by such a righteous little speech.

Standing off to the side, his homeroom teacher, Shane Stark, chose that moment to jump in, practically vibrating with righteous outrage.

"Bill, you can't be this kind-hearted! How can anyone tolerate something as filthy as stealing another student's spot?"

Shane was a textbook opportunist of a teacher. Because Bill had always scored well and been the favorite at home, Shane had fawned over him for years, while treating me with nothing but cold disdain.

I'd always been withdrawn, uninterested in socializing, and in my second year of high school, I'd abruptly dropped out. I hadn't set foot on campus in a full year.

To Shane, I was nothing but a directionless delinquent who'd run wild instead of studying. Bill, on the other hand, had been groomed with an elite education from childhood. He was the star pupil Shane was counting on to finally land his National Distinguished Teacher title.

Shane let out a cold snort and slapped a stack of printed photos down on the table beside the champagne tower.

"Nick, see for yourself!"