

Description
I grew up with a single dad who drank too much, so I worked harder than anyone to get into an elite academy on a full scholarship. I was ready to survive the bullying, outperform everyone in my class, and do whatever it took to stay. Who knew that one drunk kiss with my twice-my-age philosophy professor would ruin everything. A forbidden romance between a student and a professor doesn't exactly go well with academy rules. We both had everything to lose. Then the academy got a new beautiful sponsor - my mother who abandoned me when I was a child. And the secret that connects her to the man I'm falling for is the one thing that could destroy us all.
Chapter 1
Sep 11, 2026
Sadie’s POV
"Confession Night!" someone yells from across the bar the second we walk in, and my stomach folds in half.
Nothing good happens during that stupid game.
I grab my boyfriend’s arm. "You didn't say anything about Confession Night…"
"Relax, babe." Felix peels my fingers off his sleeve. "It's just a game."
Just a game.
The last time rich kids told me something was just a game, I ended up locked in a supply closet for two hours during orientation week.
Six of Felix's friends are already at the table with my main tormentor holding court at the center.
Skyler waves with the same hand that once grabbed me by the hair in the women’s bathroom. Which is a fun thing to remember while you're trying to smile at her. Felix’s best friend Marco is beside her, already drunk. The other four I can never tell apart.
But it doesn't matter, since all of them look at me the same way.
Like I'm something stuck to the bottom of Felix's shoe.
This is the first time since the semester started that Felix has actually brought me along as his girlfriend. Of course I don't belong in their company — his friends are all golden kids with trust funds and summer houses.
First week, they mocked me for wearing the same sweater two days in a row.
But what was I supposed to say? That my dad is a recovering alcoholic who works double shifts to keep me here, and I own four tops? As if.
The lake Como glitters behind them and the whole place smells like aperol and fancy cologne. So at least the view is pretty even if the company isn't.
I’m doing it for myself.
I need a strong reputation and allies here.
I won’t survive long enough to graduate from the Academy if I keep being just ‘the filthy charity case’ among the creams of society.
I refuse to tell Felix about the bullying too. I’m already a pathetic enough girlfriend for someone like him. Still keep me wondering what he found in me to ask me out a month ago.
But I won’t ruin this from him with my problems.
Stay cool, Sadie. Stay nice and chill.
Just act normal, get in touch with them and maybe all the shit stops.
Felix slides into the booth and I follow, pressing my thigh against his. His arm goes around my shoulder and squeezes once. Then Marco stands up and slams a glass full of folded paper slips onto the center of the table.
"Alright, you know the rules, people. Pull a question, answer honestly, everybody drinks after every answer. No passes!"
The glass goes around and everybody starts to answer between fits of laughter and alcohol. Worst hookup, most embarrassing text, biggest lie you've told a parent to get back a black card and etc.
The way their life is according to the answers is, um… a bit concerning.
Or maybe it’s just how different mine ever was.
When Marco finally shoves the glass toward me, my hand is shaking. I reach in, unfold the slip, and read it to myself.
‘What's your dirtiest fantasy about someone at the Academy?’
My face catches fire. "I'm not answering this…"
"No passes!" Marco bangs the table. "Read it, Sadie. Rules are rules."
I take a breath before reading it out loud and the whole table whistles. I pick up my glass with an unsteady hand and take a sip.
"Okay… So, honestly, I've once thought about doing it in the lecture hall." I catch their eyes on me and quickly add, "After hours. With Felix, obviously."
Felix grins and the table whistles, and for one second I think I've made it through. Then I catch Skyler's expression — dark and focused entirely on me.
She leans forward with her elbows on the table, locking her eyes on mine.
"Bullshit." She swirls her glass with a cruel smirk on her face. "I bet the grey mouse like you want Professor Miller to bend you over his desk after class and fuck you like a dirty whore."
There’s a one second of silence before Marco chokes on his drink and the whole table erupts with whistles and wild laughter.
"Skyler, what the hell." Felix picks up his whiskey with a smile.
"I mean c'mon, everyone knows you're his little teacher's pet." Skyler sits back, satisfied. "You stay after every single class and think we don't notice?"
"I stay because he's been my thesis advisor for the past month." My voice cracks. "We're working on my research paper. That's it."
"Sure." Skyler winks. "Research paper. Any success at finding your clit yet?"
More laughter and crude comments follow in my direction while Felix takes a casual sip of his beer, not even bothering to look at me.
Are you serious? You're not going to say one word?
You're just going to sit there while I choke on this?
He takes another sip and I feel like I'm about to explode.
"I need to freshen up." I slide out of the booth and walk to the restroom, jaw clenched so tight my teeth hurt.
I grip the counter and run cold water over my wrists.
Get it together, Sadie. It doesn’t mean anything.
Of course Professor Miller is very attractive man — I'm not blind. Those dark eyes and the way he rolls his sleeves up when he's deep into a lecture and forgets himself…
No. Stop it. You have a boyfriend, Sadie. Even if a shitty one, apparently.
I bet Skyler has a crush on Miller herself. She's just jealous he spends time with me after class.
Not that it matters.Because even if I did think about him like that — which I totally don't — it would never happen. I heard a girl got expelled two years ago for sleeping with her TA.
The Academy doesn't mess around with that stuff. It’s strictly forbidden.
And also I have a boyfriend now.
So it’s time to stop remembering here about every time that my and Professor Miller’s faces were too close to each other during the work, or how I think he looked at me, or how it made me feel in the moment, and get back out to Felix.
I dry my face with a paper towel and walk back out, but the whole table is… empty.
Every glass drained, every bag gone, chairs shoved back like everyone left at the same time.
I pull out my phone and type a message with shaking hands.
Me: Where are you guys?
Three dots. Then:
Felix <3: You were in the bathroom fucking forever so we moved on
Felix <3: Pay up and come find us if you can lol
What?
He couldn’t mean it… right?
Because how could he do this to me? How could he dump me that way? He did dump me, didn't he? His own ‘girlfriend’. In front of his friends.
Then the waiter appears near me with a black leather folder. Inside the bill for one thousand and forty euros.
A thousand euros.
I don't have a thousand euros. I don't even have a hundred. I barely have thirty-seven euros in my account.
"But I didn't order any of this…"
"The bill is for the table, miss." His jaw tightens and he doesn’t go away.
My eyes burn and I swipe at them with the back of my hand and dig through my bag — wallet, phone, nothing that fixes this. "I can call my bank, please, just give me a minute…"
"Don’t even try that trick on me." His voice rises now and my heart departs to my feet. "Either you pay now with cash or I call the police and you’ll spend the night at the station, you little thief!"
But then the waiter's eyes shift to something behind me, and his whole face changes.
When a warm and steady hand lands on my shoulder, I turn around.
Dark eyes looking down at me. The top button of his shirt undone, sleeves rolled to the elbows, jacket over one arm. My whole body goes hot and cold and then still.
"Professor Miller?.."
But he looks past me, his head tilted slightly to one side like he's genuinely curious what this man thinks is going to happen next.
"Why are you yelling at my student?"

The Professor’s Favorite
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My Passion
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