The morning sun filtered through the massive arched windows of the local community college, casting bright, geometric patches of light across the crowded hallways. It had been three weeks since the high-society debut gala, and to the rest of the world, Elena Ross was a modern-day Cinderella story. Her face had graced the covers of every prominent business and lifestyle magazine, firmly established as the beloved fiancée of the untouchable Alexander Vance.
But behind closed doors, her life had undergone a quiet, bewildering shift. True to his word, Alexander had funded her return to her higher education, personally ensuring her enrollment was handled without a single bureaucratic delay. He had even assigned a discrete security detail to monitor her from a distance—a gesture that made her c
