Apologize," Damien murmured against her ear, low and unhurried, like he had all the time in the world to watch her unravel. "I'm sorry, Professor Cole," Aria breathed, cheeks burning, torn between shame and something far more dangerous. His only answer was a slow smile that told her sorry wasn't nearly enough, not yet. Aria Bennett has never once said sorry and meant it. Sharp, proud, and used to winning every argument, she snaps at a stranger blocking her path outside a café and storms off without looking back. She doesn't think about him again until the following week, when their physiology professor is suddenly replaced and Aria, as class rep, is sent to deliver paperwork to his office, only to freeze in the doorway when she realizes the new professor is the exact man she humiliated days earlier. Professor Damien Cole doesn't forgive easily, and he definitely doesn't forget being disrespected by a student who has no idea who he really is. He throws her out with a warning that she'll regret it, then proves he meant it by marking her flawless work down to a C, the first bad grade of her academic life. There's only one way to fix it, and it isn't studying harder. What begins as punishment curdles into something neither of them can name, a slow, reckless slide from resentment into obsession that breaks every rule the university has on the books. But Damien didn't take that position by accident. The enemies he buried a lifetime ago are closer than he thinks, and the danger trailing him is about to land directly on Aria. As the line between punishment and desire disappears completely, Aria has to decide whether the man wrecking her future is worth the far greater storm gathering around them both.