chapter 2: welcome to hell

Chapter Two: Welcome to Hell

VALENTINA’S POV

If somebody had told me that Blackwood University was less of a school and more of a zoo filled with rich, horny, emotionally unstable animals, I would have packed my suitcase and returned to Colombia.

Seriously.

I had been on campus for barely an hour, and I had already seen enough to make me question the entire purpose of higher education.

"Please tell me I'm not the only one noticing this," I whispered.

Chloe glanced at me. "Noticing what?"

I pointed discreetly toward a couple standing beside a staircase.

The girl had her arms wrapped around a boy's neck, kissing him as though they were about to be separated by an international war. His hands were wandering over her waist, and neither of them seemed remotely concerned that students were walking past.

Chloe shrugged.

"That's nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Girl, wait until Friday night."

Before I could ask what Friday night had to do with anything, the couple disappeared behind a corner, still kissing.

I stared after them.

Back home, I wasn't a nun. I understood attraction, romance, and the fact that adults had private lives. But there was a difference between being in love and behaving as though the rest of the world had ceased to exist.

Apparently, nobody had explained that difference to some people here.

Chloe pulled me along the path leading to the residential hostels.

"Listen, Valentina. This university has three rules. First, don't trust anyone who smiles too much. Second, never lend money to someone who arrives at a party in designer shoes but claims they can't afford lunch. Third—"

A loud moan interrupted her.

I froze.

The sound came from an open hostel window above us.

Chloe looked up, then burst into laughter.

"Oh my God."

"Chloe!"

"What? I'm not the one making the noise!"

I covered my face with one hand.

"Can people please remember that other human beings have ears?"

She laughed harder.

"Welcome to Blackwood, sweetheart."

We hurried past the building, but the campus seemed determined to test my patience.

Near another hostel, two students were kissing against a parked car. A girl in a tiny skirt stumbled out of a doorway, laughing while her friend tried to fix her lipstick. On a bench, a couple was so occupied with each other that they nearly knocked a student's coffee onto the ground.

I shook my head.

"Does anybody actually study here?"

Chloe gave me a sympathetic smile.

"Some of us do. Some of us pretend to. And some of us are here because Daddy paid the fees and expects us to find a husband with an equally expensive surname."

"That's depressing."

"Welcome to the real world."

I glanced at her.

"You sound like you've been disappointed in humanity for years."

"Only since I turned eighteen."

For the first time since arriving, I laughed properly.

Maybe Blackwood wouldn't be completely unbearable.

Then Chloe's expression changed.

"Oh, and one more thing."

I already disliked the sound of that.

"What now?"

She lowered her voice.

"If you see a girl with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a permanent expression like she smells something rotten, avoid her."

"Why?"

"Seraphina Vale. Her father owns several hotels and luxury resorts. She has a clique of girls who worship the ground she walks on, and she thinks Adrian Blackwood belongs to her."

I remembered the handsome stranger from the courtyard.

"Does he know that?"

"Everybody knows that."

"That doesn't mean he belongs to her."

Chloe stopped walking.

Slowly, she turned toward me.

"Valentina, I want you to repeat that sentence after you've survived one semester here."

I laughed.

But Chloe wasn't laughing anymore.

"Seraphina doesn't like competition. And you, my innocent little scholar, have already managed to attract attention without even trying."

"By wearing old sneakers?"

"By beating Adrian Blackwood."

I sighed.

"Then perhaps he should study harder."

Chloe stared at me for two seconds.

Then she grabbed my arm.

"Oh, we're definitely going to have problems."

I had no idea how right she was.

My hostel room was smaller than I had imagined, but it was clean.

A narrow bed stood beside a wooden desk. The wardrobe had a loose handle, and the curtains looked as though they had survived three different generations of students.

Still, I loved it.

It was mine.

I unpacked my clothes, arranged my textbooks on the desk, and placed a small photograph of my family beside my reading lamp.

My mother's face stared back at me.

I swallowed the familiar lump in my throat.

"You'd better make this worth it, Valentina," I whispered to myself.

My family hadn't been wealthy enough to send me abroad without sacrifices. Every time I thought about the money they had borrowed, the expectations they had placed on me, and the way my parents sometimes made me feel as though my worth depended on what I could eventually provide, my chest tightened.

I couldn't afford to fail.

Not here.

Not after coming this far.

A knock interrupted my thoughts.

Chloe stood outside with two other girls.

"This is Tessa," she said, pointing to a dark-haired girl with a nose ring. "And that's Priya. They live across the hall."

Tessa looked me up and down.

"So you're the Colombian genius."

I smiled politely. "I'm Valentina."

"I know. Your name is all over the student forum."

My smile weakened.

"What forum?"

Priya raised her phone.

A photograph of me crossing the courtyard had already been posted online.

The caption read:

NEW SCHOLARSHIP GIRL TAKES FIRST PLACE. BLACKWOOD'S CROWN IS UNDER THREAT.

Below it were dozens of comments.

She looks like somebody's quiet little cousin.

Adrian is going to destroy her.

Bet she's desperate for attention.

Someone should teach the scholarship girl how things work around here.

Heat crawled up my neck.

I had spent years learning to ignore people's opinions, but seeing strangers discuss me like I was an object made my stomach twist.

"Who posted this?" I asked.

Priya shrugged.

"Anonymous campus account. They post everything."

"Everything?"

Tessa grinned.

"Breakups, hookups, cheating scandals, party fights. Last semester, someone uploaded a video of a professor dancing on a table at a private party."

I blinked.

"Was he drunk?"

"Extremely."

I rubbed my forehead.

This university needed prayer.

And possibly a disciplinary committee.

### ADRIAN’S POV

By lunchtime, I had seen Valentina Reyes's name so many times that I wanted to throw my phone against a wall.

Mason sat across from me in the private dining area reserved for the hockey team, scrolling through the campus forum.

"She's trending."

"Delete the app."

"She's trending because of you."

I looked up.

"Explain."

He turned his phone toward me.

There was a photograph of Valentina walking beside Chloe, her oversized sweatshirt hanging loosely over her frame.

She looked ordinary.

Almost aggressively ordinary.

No designer clothes. No expensive jewellery. No desperate smile aimed at the nearest rich boy.

Yet she had managed to beat me academically and become the university's favourite topic before the first day was over.

"People are saying she's your new rival," Mason said.

"She's a girl with a scholarship."

"A girl with a scholarship who scored higher than you."

I leaned back.

"Do you want to keep talking?"

He raised both hands.

"Not particularly."

My phone buzzed.

SERAPHINA: Dinner tonight? Just you and me. I miss you.

I ignored it.

Another message arrived.

SERAPHINA: I saw the new girl. She's not your type.

I stared at the screen.

That was the problem with Seraphina. She spoke as if my life were a property she had inherited.

We had history. We had kissed, dated briefly, and ended things more than once. She knew how to get under my skin, and she had never accepted that I wasn't interested in giving her another chance.

I typed a reply.

ADRIAN: Stop monitoring who I look at.

Her answer came immediately.

SERAPHINA: Then stop giving me reasons to.

I tossed the phone onto the table.

Mason watched me carefully.

"You're going to make a mess of this, aren't you?"

I smiled.

"Of what?"

"The girl."

I stood.

"I'm going to teach her that being first on a piece of paper doesn't make her untouchable."

"And if she doesn't care about your little throne?"

I buttoned my jacket.

"Everyone cares about something."

I had been raised to find that weakness in people and use it.

Money. Family. Reputation. Fear.

Everybody had a price.

I simply hadn't discovered Valentina Reyes's yet.

### VALENTINA’S POV

My first lecture was supposed to be the peaceful part of my day.

I arrived ten minutes early, chose a seat near the window, and opened my notebook.

Then Adrian Blackwood walked in.

The entire room changed.

Girls sat straighter. Conversations became louder. Somebody whispered his name, and another student immediately began fixing her hair using her phone camera.

I kept writing.

I wasn't interested.

At least, that was what I told myself.

Adrian walked down the aisle with Mason beside him. When he reached my row, he stopped.

I sensed him before I looked up.

"You're sitting in my seat."

I blinked at him.

There were at least thirty empty seats in the lecture hall.

"Congratulations."

His eyebrows drew together.

"What?"

"Congratulations on owning one chair. That's quite an achievement."

Somebody behind us snorted.

Adrian's jaw tightened.

Mason covered his mouth, clearly fighting a laugh.

"You think you're funny?" Adrian asked.

"No. I think you're blocking my view."

His eyes narrowed.

For a moment, neither of us moved.

Then he leaned closer, lowering his voice.

"You should be careful, Reyes. People who rise too quickly have a habit of falling."

I met his gaze.

"And people who spend too much time looking down on others often miss what's right in front of them."

The silence around us became deliciously uncomfortable.

Adrian straightened.

I returned to my notebook.

He walked away, but I could feel his anger following him across the room.

Professor Whitmore entered moments later and began distributing our course outlines.

I was concentrating on the lecture when a folded piece of paper landed on my desk.

I frowned and opened it.

ENJOY YOUR FIRST PLACE WHILE IT LASTS.

No name.

No signature.

I didn't need either.

I slowly folded the note and placed it inside my notebook.

Then I raised my hand to answer the professor's question.

I answered correctly.

Adrian said nothing.

But when I glanced toward him, I caught him watching me.

There was no admiration in his expression.

Only irritation.

And something else I couldn't quite identify.

I looked away.

Let him be irritated.

I had crossed an ocean for my education, not to become the supporting actress in some rich boy's personal drama.

Unfortunately, as I would soon discover, Adrian Blackwood had never been good at accepting a woman who refused to play by his rules.

And Seraphina Vale was about to make sure my first week at Blackwood University became unforgettable.

End of Chapter Two.