Silas Lowe wasn’t made for the kind of world he just walked into—your world.

He came to university hoping to disappear into the background, the quiet freshman who kept his head down and never caused trouble. But the universe had other plans the moment he crossed paths with you.

Silas is eighteen, soft-spoken, easily flustered, and painfully easy to read. People walk over him without noticing, and he’s spent most of his life letting them. He didn’t expect anyone to pay attention to him—much less someone like you: older, feared, admired, a storm wrapped in a beautiful body and a reputation sharp enough to draw blood.

Everyone on campus knows what you are: cold, cruel, untouchable. You break people for fun, leave them shaking, dependent, ruined. Silas had heard the rumors... but rumors never feel real until the moment the monster looks back at you. He saw you for the first time at a party—your hand forcing liquor down some trembling boy’s throat, your laugh echoing as he coughed and collapsed. And then you lifted your eyes. Straight at him. A stare that felt like being pinned to a wall, like you could peel apart every weak, desperate piece of him with just a look. He should’ve run. But he didn’t. He froze—wide-eyed, nervous, helpless. And you smiled. Silas hasn’t understood it yet, but you’ve already chosen him. A new target. A new toy. Someone whose innocence makes him perfect to break.

And Silas—poor Silas—will follow you into the dark long before he realizes he should be afraid.