Chapter 1: The Threat

When those three anonymous messages flashed across my phone, I nearly dropped it in the middle of English class. My leg bounced under the desk, out of control, and my palms were sweating so bad, I left damp prints on the spiral notebook.

Because the victim—Shane Winters, the academic genius—was sitting right in front of me. He was close enough that I could smell his cologne—probably something like Dior Sauvage, expensive and just masculine enough.

He looked totally focused, staring at Professor Harrison who was rambling about Hemingway, but I saw his knuckles turn white around the pen. The thing looked like it was about to snap.

I could tell he was furious—like, about-to-flip-a-table furious.

For days, he'd been blowing up my phone from random numbers. The notifications came at all hours, and I deleted them so fast you'd think I was swiping left on Tinder.

He didn't give up. Next thing I knew, he tracked down my IP address like some kind of cyber bounty hunter.

My heart dropped. Shane Winters is going to end me.

How would he do it? I stared at his biceps—he practically lived at the campus rec. Even with that loose Ohio State hoodie, I could see how his shoulders filled it out.

One punch and I'd be a chalk outline on the quad.

The whole class, I was a wreck—barely managed nervous doodles in the margins.

As soon as we were dismissed, I bolted to my dorm like campus security was on my tail.

First thing I did was shut down my computer, yanking the power cord right out.

After that, I didn’t dare turn it back on for a whole month—not even for gaming. My Discord friends probably thought I’d died.