I'm the whispers in the dark you can't ignore. The bully you can't run away from. I'm the tormentor who makes your life a living hell. The villain you love to hate. I'm the vicious monster sleeping in the next room. The one who knows all your secrets. And I'll stop at nothing to make you pay.

I have a simple plan. Finish Royal Elite School and get into my dream university. One glance from the school’s king blows my plan up in smoke. One glance and he suffocates my air. One glance and he issues his death sentence. His first words spiral my life into irreparable chaos. “I will destroy you.” Everything about Aiden King is black. Black mind. Black heart. Black soul. I should’ve remained quiet and endured the time I have left. I didn’t. I made the irrevocable mistake of provoking the king on his throne.

I’d never forgotten him - a man I’d yet to meet. Griffin Quinn was my childhood pen pal, the British boy who couldn’t have been more different from me. Over the years, through hundreds of letters, we became best friends, sharing our deepest, darkest secrets and forming a connection I never thought could break. Until one day, it did. Then, out of the blue, a new letter arrived. A scathing one - one with eight years of pent-up anger. I had no choice but to finally come clean as to why I stopped writing. Griffin forgave me, and we were able to rekindle our childhood connection.

They were my bullies once. Three boys I hated more than anything. They made my life hell for a year - until I escaped their cruelty when my dad's job moved us away. I've never forgotten them, though. Never forgotten what they did. And I know they haven't forgotten me. But when I'm offered a full-ride scholarship to the prestigious Clearwater University, I refuse to let old fears stop me from accepting. Because I'm not the girl I used to be. I'm stronger. Tougher. Angrier. And if West, Reese, and Trent think they can screw with me again...well. We'll just see who breaks first.

It was supposed to be a harmless kiss at a lavish debutante ball. A clandestine moment with a handsome stranger. But unlike his namesake, my Romeo isn’t driven by love. He’s fueled by revenge. To him, I’m a chess piece. Leverage. His rival’s betrothed. To me, he is a man deserving of poison. A dark prince I refuse to marry. He thinks I’ll accept my fate. Well, I plan to rewrite it. And in my story, Juliet doesn’t die. But Romeo? He perishes.