جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

Chris POV:The quiet of Friday morning at the Vance estate was shattered by a harsh knock on the door. I woke up with my familiar, unrelenting headache. Last night had been another mental torture. The image of Alan—the picture-perfect older brother, the symbol of success—was once again brought up by my father as the benchmark for my existence. Every effort, every achievement in his eyes was merely a smudge on a polished mirror. I gritted my teeth, swallowing my bitterness, but Alan's shadow still blanketed my living space like a curse.The clock struck 6 AM. I stepped into the bathroom, cold water splashing directly against my pale face. Dark, sunken eyes from lack of sleep looked truly pathetic. Hurriedly slipping into the Blackwood Academy uniform—the stiff, high-end wool fabric constricting my skin—I bolted straight for the door."Young master, are you not having breakfast?" The old butler's voice quivered in the hallway. Piping-hot soup and toast had been neatly laid out on the lar

Gwen's POV:I paused in my tracks, slowly turning my head to look at him, then glancing back at Lucas and Chloe, who were frozen in place in the distance. In my field of vision, Chloe's face was pale with anger, the veins on her neck straining against the collar of her school uniform, her eyes locked onto me with a bitter, hostile glare. In contrast, Lucas standing beside her didn't look arrogant or upset; his gaze flickered with confusion, his brows furrowed in hesitation and regret as he watched everything fall apart. He stood there helplessly, watching me turn my back, while Chloe immediately turned to vent her irritation with sharp, grumbled words, hissing through her teeth just loud enough for my hearing to catch every single syllable: "You're so useless! Why did you drag me into this? Now look, everyone saw me instigating you to beg her, where am I supposed to hide my face..."A faint smile flickered across my lips."Fine," I replied flatly, my eyes sweeping over the sudden flas

Gwen POV:More than two weeks after the showdown behind closed doors in the classroom, things in the class had finally fallen back into place. Not only did I expose the underground transaction trap, but I also secured all the evidence of illegal trades committed by the Ben and Jessica families over the past two years, forcing the two former predators to obediently become two submissive "shields" under my feet. The rebellious mob, having lost their ringleaders, began to tuck in their tails, no longer daring to use collective grades as a weapon to push me into a corner. The academic faction and the commoner students finally breathed a sigh of relief as research resources were restored to their original state.Yet, calm seas never last long. As the waves from the plutocratic faction temporarily subsided, another boulder loomed large.Someone completely outside all the rules of Blackwood: Ashton Hayes.If Chris Vance was a blindingly arrogant and dazzling headlight, Ashton was a silent bl

POV GWEN MILLER:Stamping my feet in fury as I marched back to my seat, my chest felt dangerously close to bursting like an over-pressurized boiler.Being stalked through the shadows by a dangerous presence had already pushed my nerves to the breaking point, and now a stubborn, infuriating jerk like Ashton Hayes had to come along and test the absolute limits of my endurance. His arrogant nature and devil-may-care attitude made me want to shove my metal pen straight down his throat. My boiling frustration translated into heavy, deliberate footsteps that battered the classroom floor.The moment I pulled out my chair and looked up, my gaze collided straight with Julian’s. His eyes held a steady, observant depth, as if he were silently assessing how I had managed to "survive" my clash with that feral beast. Shifting my glance slightly to the side, I immediately felt the familiar weight of Chris's attention—still quiet and distant, yet carrying a distinct, watchful focus.And standing awkw

Gwen POV:My eyes were bloodshot, glaring straight into the redhead's smug face. Giving zero damns about her cheap threat, I took a deep breath, my chest heaving as I choked back the words to expose that bastard Chris's sick joke.Before I could spit out a single syllable, that arrogant prick beat me to it.Chris lowered his voice. The exact second he did, a heavy, suffocating pressure—a thick wave of male cologne laced with crisp citrus and spicy clove—slammed straight into my nose. My chest seized up out of nowhere. That nauseous, suffocating feeling from lately flared up again, making me curse the damn aftereffects of tumbling into that sewage pond. His gaze swept the area cold as a razor, radiating an overpowering authority that forced the surrounding crowd to instantly shrink, shoulders hunching and necks pulling in from pure terror. His hair-trigger, reckless temper, long his trademark, made him roar without a single shred of hesitation, his gravelly pitch sharp enough to slice