Burned by Sin

Rhys Waversea is holding a lit match to a can of gasoline, and Clayton Michaels is no longer standing in his way.

The plan was simple. Infiltrate my father’s empire and watch it crumble from the inside. Waversea Academy was never meant to last, it was just another playground to poison with my hatred. And for a while, it worked. I made sure everyone who thought they belonged here tasted the same misery I was born into.

But Harper wasn’t a part of that plan. She wasn’t supposed to matter. Somehow, she peeled back every layer I built to survive, carved her name into the ruins of who I used to be, and left me exposed. I got what I wanted, I should be celebrating. Instead, I’m spiraling, locked in a war with my own mind. The thrill is gone, the high’s worn off, and now I’m left hollow and alone.

Still, she haunts me. My dreams are plagued by her voice, one sentence on repeat which cuts deeper than any blade. “Rhys Waversea is nothing, and he knows it.”