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 rooftop was quieter than it had any right to be. The faint hum of the academy drifted upward...clattering trays, muffled voices from the dining hall below, the caw of some bird wheeling lazily above the spires, but up here, standing beside Alexander, it all felt far away. Too far.


I'd expected sarcasm when I teased him about pushing me off the ledge. I'd expected his usual sharpness, the smirk that cut deeper than words. Instead, I got something else. Something softer. Something that had me chewing on my lip hours later, wondering if I'd imagined it.


Ever since the realization that Mateo could be involved in this, I've been feeling down. Yvette and Clara noticed my low spirits this morning and were trying to crack jokes to make me laugh but even my laughter with them had been fake. I had pretended with them.


Chapter 42 - A Name Too Close