✪ ASHLEY LEE
A witty, sharp-minded 21-year-old university student, her intelligence and quick thinking have earned her an assignment unlike any other-a covert mission to investigate a high-profile case entwined with money laundering, smuggling, and trafficking. Amidst this dangerous pursuit, she encounters the enigmatic Prof. Demon, Professor D'Souza-someone destined to be her absolute "not-so-favourite."
✿ MRS. D'SOUZA
A 35-year-old university professor of unyielding rigor. Cold, detached, and unfazed by the world, her stoic demeanor alone could silence a room. Emotionless, calculating, and formidable-she is a force few dare confront.
✯ PROLOGUE ✯
In the bustling halls of academia, Ashley Lee walks with a secret. Posing as an ordinary student, she is, in truth, a covert agent tasked with unraveling the hidden darkness lurking within the university's archives. With a trusted friend at her side, she collects fragments of truth, each revelation drawing her closer to the heart of a conspiracy.
Yet the path is anything but simple. Enter Professor D'Souza-stern, intimidating, a wall of unyielding control. Their worlds collide: in classrooms, in corridors, in moments neither can predict. Two minds, two perspectives, clashing yet intertwined, as secrets, ambitions, and perhaps something far more fragile begin to weave together.
✷ FOR LOVE, LIKE TRUTH, IS NEVER NEAT-IT IS ALWAYS, UNDENIABLY, MESSY.
When Esmerelda Harlow steps into the musty halls of Winston High as the new history teacher. With a reputation for being sharp, unyielding, and almost impossibly brilliant, whispers of her arrival ripple through the school. Students are wary, teachers are impressed, and troublemaker Cameron Monroe is intrigued.
Cameron, the school's untouchable rebel with a reputation for detention slips and smirks, with a game of breaking every teacher who's tried to tame her. To her, Esmerelda Harlow is just another target-a seemingly uptight woman with strict rules and an aura of authority begging to be challenged. But when Cameron tries her usual antics, she's met with something entirely unexpected: resistance.
Esmerelda is not an easy mark. In fact, she's more than Cameron bargained for. Cool-headed and razor-sharp, Esmerelda cuts through Cameron's bravado with surgical precision. Every sarcastic remark is met with calm but devastating wit. Every act of defiance earns a punishment so perfectly tailored, it leaves Cameron seething-and strangely fascinated.
What begins as a battle of wills quickly turns into something more dangerous. Esmerelda sees through Cameron's rebellious exterior to the brilliant, restless mind beneath it. Cameron, for all her bravado, finds herself caught in Esmerelda's gravitational pull-her intelligence, her poise, and her mysterious charm.
But Esmerelda isn't here to play games. She's here to teach Cameron a lesson she'll never forget, one that will leave them both questioning the boundaries of power, desire, and control. In the end, it's not just Cameron's life that Esmerelda will upend-it's her own.
In a town where reputations are everything, what happens when two unstoppable forces collide in a battle of rebellion and resolve?