At St. Augustine’s Academy, privilege and power run through every marble hallway. For some, this final year means freedom. For others, it’s the stepping stone to even greater influence. But for a few, it will become a life-altering secret they can never escape.

Isabella Marquez has her future mapped out; graduate top of her class, enter the most prestigious university, and one day take control of her father’s empire. Nothing and no one will stop her.

Especially not Alexander Hawthorne with his smirk and blue eyes, the Duke’s reckless second son. To Isabella, he’s nothing more than a chain-smoking, party-throwing menace who will likely end up in jail before graduation.

But when a classmate turns up dead in Isabella’s dorm room, Alexander becomes the only person who can help her prove her innocence. Forced into an uneasy alliance, Isabella discovers that behind his arrogant smirk and scandalous reputation lies someone far more complicated than she ever imagined.

And in a world where secrets are currency and friends can become enemies and enemies can become something dangerously more, Isabella may find herself risking more than just her future, she may risk her heart.



Dive in to explore Isabella's life as it either takes a turn for the best or the worse.


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The sun was merciless that afternoon — the kind of heat that made the academy's marble floors gleam like glass and the air hum faintly with fatigue. Even the air conditioners did little to reduce the fatigue. Classes had dragged longer than usual, and by the time the bell rang, I felt like I'd been wrung out and hung to dry.


Yvette and I stepped out of the lecture hall together, our bags slung over our shoulders, weaving through the thinning crowd of students. She was already waving a manicured hand as she complained about the lecture we just received.


"You know what, Isa?" She asked me but didn't give me a chance to reply as she continued. "If I have to suffer through one more lecture today then I may loose all my beauty."


I laughed. "That's not possible. You still look good to me and we just had a bone breaking lecture."


Chapter 72 - Shattered Illusions