Chapter 1: The Ordinary Heir

Chris had perfected the art of invisibility.

Third row from the back. Hoodie up. Head down. A notebook filled with scribbles that meant nothing. He moved through university like a shadow, unnoticed, unimportant. And that was fine.

Because if anyone knew who he really was, his life here would be over.

He tapped his pen against his notebook, staring blankly at the economics professor. His mind was elsewhere—far from the lecture hall, far from the mundane lives of students who had no idea what real power looked like.

"Is this seat taken?"

Chris stilled. The voice was soft, almost uncertain.

He looked up.

Skylar Monroe.

His heart did something strange—an unfamiliar hitch, like a glitch in his carefully controlled system. He recognized her instantly. Everyone did. She was wealth, beauty, and privilege wrapped in a flawless package. The kind of girl people watched the moment she walked into a room.

But up close, she wasn't perfect.

Her fingers gripped the strap of her bag too tightly. Her eyes—emerald green, striking—held something beneath the surface. Something he couldn't quite name.

Fear? Desperation?

Chris didn't know. And he didn't care.

At least, that's what he told himself.

"Go ahead," he muttered.

She sat beside him, offering a brief smile before turning to her notes. For the rest of the lecture, neither of them spoke. But Chris could feel her presence, like an itch beneath his skin.

Something was off about her.

And he had no idea that this girl—the one sitting so close, the one who smelled faintly of vanilla and something expensive—was about to become the biggest problem of his carefully controlled life.

---

Across campus, Skylar's phone vibrated.

She didn't have to check the message. She already knew what it would say.

Dad: You have two weeks to fix this.

Her grip tightened around her pen. Two weeks. That was all the time she had before everything fell apart. Before the world found out the truth.

Her family wasn't just struggling.

They were drowning.

And she had one job—to save them.

Even if it meant making a deal with the devil himself.

[To be continued…]