Tainted Genius

At Whitmore University, only the rich, the brilliant, and the dangerous survive.

Ryan Shaffer is none of the above. She's here on scholarship, laser-focused, and more interested in staying at the top of the class than making friends. So when the class rankings drop and she sees her name in second place, she's not shocked.

What shocks her... is who's in first.

Carter Grayson.

She's never seen him in a single lecture. Never heard his name. And yet there he is, one spot above her. Infuriatingly smug. Maddeningly attractive. And worst of all?

Unbothered.

Carter is everything Ryan can't stand: reckless, flirtatious, filthy rich-and somehow, smarter than her. But the deeper she digs, the more the mystery unravels. Because Carter Grayson has secrets no one talks about.
And Ryan? She might be the only one bold (or stupid) enough to challenge him.

At Whitmore, power is inherited, not earned. But Ryan's done playing by their rules.

---

His lips were inches away from my ear and the heat from his breath sent my body into complete shock.

"I'm an asshole," he said, almost breathless. I wanted to agree because wherever that admission came from it was the truth.

"I only know how to hurt people," he said again. More feverishly this time.

"You're worse," I claimed. "Than an asshole. You're worse."

"I know," he mumbled. Pain etched in his face.

"Why the unexpected confession?"

"Cause you were right," he said, leaning back - severing the connection before it had even formed.

"I'm not worth it."