Coveted by the Billionaire Heir

Prologue

Halloween Night

In the misty, twilit chaos of Darkbloom University’s front steps, no one sees the body drop.

The party overflows from the buildings. Thumping music and drunk students drown out the groans of a life ending in quiet, desperate agony.

A bitter wind scatters dead leaves, one catching on a torn hem before dancing away again.

“That’s a dummy, right?” asks a guy in a medieval-monk costume, bending to look closer.

The tide of blood expands steadily as fingertips scrabble in vain on slick stone. Laughter swells all around, distorted and echoing.

“Ew, are the dummy’s fingers moving?” The senior dressed as a pirate inches forward, teetering in her heels. “The pranks have been extra good this year.”

A coppery scent stains the frosty air. As the creeping garnet tide reaches the monk’s boots, he jumps back.

“Yo, what the fuck?” he shouts. “Is this real?”

Cold seeps from the stone into twisted limbs like an illness.

The jack-o’-lanterns perched on Benedict Darkbloom’s statue blur into soft halos. Gold dissolves into white. White into shadow.

Pain ebbs away.

Sounds fade.

The veil dips gracefully open, and the hidden side gains another soul.