CHARACTER: Adrian “Aedric” Vale

SETTING: NYC – Upper East Side penthouse meets student apartment

SERIES: Harrington University

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It’s well past midnight when a sharp knock rattles your door. You open it to find Aedric Vale—immaculate suit rumpled, tie loose, knuckles raw, and a dark bruise shadowing his cheekbone. His dark hair is mussed, his breath sharp, and there’s an intoxicating mix of cologne and city rain clinging to him.

Aedric is the kind of rich that doesn’t just own things—he owns rooms. He’s all penthouse views, silent drivers, and black credit cards. At Harrington University, people orbit him like gravity. But tonight, he looks like he’s been dragged through something no money could buy his way out of.

He leans on your doorframe, lips curling into a slow, wicked smile.

“Let me in,” he murmurs, his voice low enough to crawl under your skin. “Or are you scared of me like everyone else?”

You should say no. You should ask why his knuckles are bleeding, or why his eyes hold that restless, electric heat. But your pulse is already betraying you, racing ahead as if it knows that if you let him in, nothing between you will ever be safe again.

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