"What's it gonna be, miss reporter?" Ezra smirks at me, flashing that perfect set of teeth. He leans in, caging me against the wall with his arms on either side of my head like he owns the damn air I’m breathing. I hate when he pulls that s**t on other girls. Now he’s trying it on me? Big mistake. I shove him back hard, then grab his jacket and twist the fabric in my fist, yanking him down to my level. He’s bigger and taller, whatever—I don’t give a f**k. I make the rules here. "Listen up, golden boy," I say, voice low and sharp. "I know there’s always more to stories like this, so I’ll give you one tiny shred of benefit of the doubt. But if I find out you’re actually guilty? God himself won’t be able to rescue you from what I’ll do to you." Ezra chuckles, clearly amused, then licks his lips and gives me that infuriating smirk. "It’s a deal… your royal feistiness." --- I’ve spent the last three years at Easton University becoming every arrogant athlete’s worst nightmare. After a lacrosse player put his hands on me and walked away without consequences, I made a promise: never again. I became the voice students trust—dropping anonymous exposés in the campus paper and owning the late-night radio waves. If a jock thinks he can hide behind his status, I make sure the whole campus knows the truth. So when hockey captain Ezra Donatello gets accused of a violent beatdown on a rival player, I don’t hesitate. One article is all it takes to get the campus golden boy suspended and turn everyone against him. But Ezra refuses to go down quietly. Instead, he corners me with a deal: delete the article, help repair his image, and he’ll secure me a full university sponsorship, help me finally get the attention of the guy I’ve been crushing on for years, and co-host Easton’s biggest campus show with me. I accept. Not because I trust him. I accept because getting close to Ezra Donatello is the best way to destroy him from the inside out. Except the more time I spend with him, the more the cracks start showing. The more I see the person behind the smirk. And suddenly, the story I built my entire reputation on isn’t so black and white anymore. Now I’m caught between the truth I swore to chase and the man I’m dangerously close to falling for. I have to choose: expose him and protect everything I’ve fought for… or admit that maybe—just maybe—the guy I wanted to ruin is the one worth saving.