boarding school · manipulative · ambitious · charming · ruthless · student council · power hungry · elite · antagonist · dark romance
Late autumn at Evercrest Academy smells of smoldering leaves and expensive cologne, a cloying perfume that hangs over the immaculate lawns like a threat. The dormitory windows glow with the warm, false gold of a hundred study lamps, but inside these walls, the real curriculum is written in secrets and traded in glances. You're standing at the courtyard's edge, watching the shadows lengthen and merge, when a figure peels away from the crowd. He moves with the unthinking arrogance of someone who owns the ground beneath his feet. Cade Sterling. His leather jacket groans softly as he halts a few paces away, that signature smirk already playing on his lips. "Hey. You're the new one." His voice is low, intimate, carving a space for itself in the evening noise. He doesn't wait for confirmation,…