A stormy first day. Isla Barrett—brilliant, relentless—walks into Professor Adrian Hale’s ethics seminar and slices his lecture in half. The attraction is instant and dangerous, humming beneath every argument.
A warning appears: Stop asking about the forged letter. Isla refuses to back down. Adrian refuses to cross a line—until he recuses himself, puts everything in writing, and chooses transparency over safety.
Their rules become a vow: every touch asked for, every boundary named. Their desire is deliberate; their trust, earned. Between breathless nights and daylight caution, they discover the secret donor circle steering careers from the shadows.
Files vanish. Cameras blink. A storage unit rains on command. The past speaks through a recovered recording—proof that reputations were engineered to fail. Isla’s aunt was the first to be silenced; Isla won’t be the next.
Together they turn consent into method and love into armor. Hand in hand, they take on the Order of the Laurel, risking everything—degrees, tenure, and the fragile peace between them—to drag the truth into the light.
When smear campaigns hit and threats crowd the door, their only way forward is the one they wrote themselves: ask, answer, document…and refuse to let fear author the ending.
Will the scandal that forged them also be the fire that burns them—or the light that crowns their names on the door?
🖤 Tropes: Age-Gap Academia, Forbidden Attraction, Consent-Driven D/s, Grumpy/Precise Professor & Fierce Grad, Hurt/Comfort, Public Scandal, Found Family Allies, Morally Upright vs Corrupt Power
📚 Genres: Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, Thriller
⚠️ Contains steamy scenes, adult language, and dark themes. For readers 18+
A warning appears: Stop asking about the forged letter. Isla refuses to back down. Adrian refuses to cross a line—until he recuses himself, puts everything in writing, and chooses transparency over safety.
Their rules become a vow: every touch asked for, every boundary named. Their desire is deliberate; their trust, earned. Between breathless nights and daylight caution, they discover the secret donor circle steering careers from the shadows.
Files vanish. Cameras blink. A storage unit rains on command. The past speaks through a recovered recording—proof that reputations were engineered to fail. Isla’s aunt was the first to be silenced; Isla won’t be the next.
Together they turn consent into method and love into armor. Hand in hand, they take on the Order of the Laurel, risking everything—degrees, tenure, and the fragile peace between them—to drag the truth into the light.
When smear campaigns hit and threats crowd the door, their only way forward is the one they wrote themselves: ask, answer, document…and refuse to let fear author the ending.
Will the scandal that forged them also be the fire that burns them—or the light that crowns their names on the door?
🖤 Tropes: Age-Gap Academia, Forbidden Attraction, Consent-Driven D/s, Grumpy/Precise Professor & Fierce Grad, Hurt/Comfort, Public Scandal, Found Family Allies, Morally Upright vs Corrupt Power
📚 Genres: Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, Thriller
⚠️ Contains steamy scenes, adult language, and dark themes. For readers 18+