LOGINIn the elite halls of Heldon College, secrets and scandals lurk around every corner. For Alex Mongroove, a foster child turned scholarship student, the stakes are high. When a one night stand with Professor Tristan Walker sparks a forbidden romance, Alex must navigate the risks of exposure, jealousy, and heartbreak. As their secret relationship intensifies, Alex and Tristan must confront their own desires and fears. Will their love prevail, or will the secrets and lies tear them apart?
View More115[ALEX'S POV]Cheers erupted from our friends as I knelt with him, pulling him into a fierce, breathless hug. The applause from Nico, Rita, Marilyn, and Mathew was thunderous, a joyous sound of love and support. We kissed, and in that moment, all the pain of Heldon, all the long, lonely nights in Australia, all the uncertainty of our future simply dissolved. It was just us, in a circle of love and celebration, finally home and finally whole. The ring felt impossibly light and impossibly heavy all at once on my finger.As our lips parted and the cheers reached their peak, the doorbell rang.The sound was a jarring, discordant note in the symphony of our joy. Marilyn, bless her heart, bustled to the door. I saw her open it to a girl who couldn't have been more than seventeen or eighteen. She was pretty in an unassuming way, with kind eyes and long, brown hair. She wore a simple, functional backpack and looked lost, a little out of place, and entirely unfamiliar."Hello dear," Marily
[Four years later....]The descent into the familiar sprawl of Los Angeles felt surreal. For four years, our lives had been framed by the endless blue of the Pacific from a different hemisphere, the sun rising on a new day while America slept. Now, the sprawling grid of city lights below us was a promise, a beacon of a life we had worked so hard to reclaim. I felt Tristan’s hand tighten around mine, his thumb tracing a slow, steady pattern on my knuckles."Home," he whispered, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through me.I just nodded, my throat tight. The last time we had left, it had been an escape. A frantic, humiliating flight from a life that had been ripped to shreds. The scandal that had consumed Heldon University—and our lives—had forced us to rebuild from the ground up. Tristan had lost his job, his reputation, his life's work. I had lost my scholarship, my future, and the trust of my friends that I had thankfully managed to regain before we left.Australia had been our
The sleep that had swallowed me was a heavy, dreamless blanket, a welcome oblivion from the crushing weight of reality. I woke slowly, the morning light filtering through Tristan's curtains feeling foreign and soft. The house was quiet, but as I made my way to the living room, I heard hushed voices.My heart immediately seized with panic. Tristan? Was he on the phone with his lawyer? With the university? I rounded the corner, expecting to see him pacing, but stopped dead in my tracks.Sitting on the sofa, looking small and exhausted but undeniably real, were Rita and Nico. Wait, how? Is this a dream? What were they doing here?Oh no, they came here to give me more of a tongue lashing? Well, I'm not going to stay and let that happen. I turned to run back into my bedroom when I heard his voice.Nico looked up first, his eyes wide with relief. "Alex," he breathed.Rita just stared, her face a complicated mess of shame and relief. I felt my legs quake under me but I fought to keep steady
The tranquil elegance of Samantha's home had been a temporary haven, but her words had been a catalyst. I drove away, my mind no longer held any resentment.In its stead was a storm of guilt and regret. Alex. Nico. My two best friends. I had turned my back on them when they needed me most, all because of a truth I had completely misunderstood. Even if I had misunderstood it, I was right to be angry. Tristan had broken my sister's heart but he had done his best to make up for it with her and had given her a shot at happiness.Samantha had let go of the anger and pain that I was still stubbornly holding on to all these years. It was the reason that Alex must have been so scared to tell me the truth about what was happening.I thought back to the way that I had come at him that day. The awful names that I had called him. It made me flinch the more I dwelled on it. I was angry and I had said some very cruel things.I wish I could take them back.I wish that I could take care of Alex now.
The world had fractured. One minute, I was confessing my love for Tristan to Nico, trying to explain while hoping to gather the shattered remains of our friendship. The next, Rita was a whirlwind of fury.The next thing I knew she was showing me her phone screen and the Heldon Hearsay post. It was
The fluorescent lights of the university library cast a sterile glow over our study group. Equations for advanced calculus sprawled across whiteboards, and the low murmur of whispered explanations filled the air. My current focus was on a particularly stubborn differential equation, my pen scratch
I hummed a lovely tune as I pulled up to Keke Jones's apartment building. Unlike the majority of us, Keke had chosen to stay off campus for reasons best known to her.Keke's apartment was one of those aggressively modern, glass-fronted structures that screamed "new money," just like Keke herself.B
Heldon University. The name itself screamed old money and prestige but it was nothing compared to the school grounds itself. It looked like a whole town. A beautiful, upgraded town.As I drove onto the sprawling campus, I had to admit, it was impressive. Manicured lawns stretched out like emerald
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