Nico: You won’t believe why she got kicked out of her last university. If she’s your chosen, I fully support it.
Me: I don’t care about your support. I’m not running for fucking mayor.
I hopped off the wall and walked along the stone path bordering the university that led to my private dorm wing. With each step, I plotted the ways I’d make Blair Dupont wish she’d never been born.
God help her fucking soul.
Two
Blair
I was climbingthe stairway to hell.
All that was missing was funeral music.
Water soaked through my clothes as I walked up the slick steps. Each one felt like a warning that I didn’t belong here.
When I looked up, Saint Vale University towered above like a cathedral. It resembled a castle with its stone walls more than a university. Darkness wrapped around it like a cloak as it reached toward the sky. Stained glass windows glowed from each floor.
There wasn’t another soul outside.
At least not one I couldsee.
What I felt was a different story.
A prickle curled up my spine like smoke as I scanned the darkness.
Someone was watching me. I felt it.
Like a predator, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
I shook off the thought of getting murdered and kept climbing. The closer I got to the top, the tighter my stomach knotted.
Once I reached the vestibule, it’d be official. I’d be a student at Saint Vale University. My third university in four years.
My stepfather had made it clear: Saint Vale was my last chance. If I screwed up here, I was done.
Since I’d never heard of the university, I’d immediately pulled out my phone and researched it, doing a deep dive into its history and rumors.
Royalty, politicians, drug lords, and tech gods all sent their heirs to Saint Vale for its security and privacy. Private donors and tuition fully funded the university. It took nothing from the government, which meant no government eyes were allowed in. The last official who had pushed for oversight vanished.
Saint Vale sat on the edge of Westchester, New York, surrounded by dense forests and towering stone walls that looked centuries old. The kind of walls meant to keep people out or trap them inside. The trees were so thick that they nearly swallowed the entire campus.
The entire place screamed isolation, money, and secrets.
I’d already witnessed how seriously they took security measures when we arrived. Guards carrying rifles stood beneath the black wrought-iron entrance, engraved with the university’s crest. They checked our IDs, scanned our fingerprints, and searched every inch of my luggage before even allowing us entry.
When we made it through the gate, it was like I’d crossed into another world.
How my stepfather had gotten me accepted here was beyond me. I was sure his checkbook helped, but I was far from a model student. My academic record had more negative comments than a politician’s Facebook profile.
By the time I reached the arched entrance, I was drenched, and my thighs ached. I stepped beneath the stone shelter, and my vision blurred from the rainwater running down my face.
Black iron sconces glowed on each side of the doorway, supplying me with enough light to admire the baroque carvings etched into the stone. I ran my finger over the winding vines, roses, serpents, and gargoyles.
The university crest was on the iron double doors. A shield framed a raven, tangled with two serpents. One serpent’s jawhung open, fangs bared, while the raven’s beak and wings were stained dark with carved streaks of blood.
“That’s not creepy at all,” I muttered before pushing them open.
