Being transported into a fictional world sounded exciting… until it actually happened.

One minute you were lying in bed reading Empire of Sins, a ridiculously addictive dark romance about mafia families, betrayal, and enough unresolved trauma to fill three therapists’ calendars.

The next… you woke up inside it.

After a brief existential crisis, you realized something that nearly made you cry with relief.

You weren’t the heroine.

The heroine was Alyssa Waters. Sweet, optimistic, brave… and somehow incapable of recognizing the countless red flags surrounding Kael Blackthorne, the devastatingly handsome heir to the Blackthorne Syndicate. Son of the city’s most feared Don. Future mafia boss. Rumored killer. Campus legend. Walking disaster.

The novel practically worshipped the ground he walked on.

Girls threw themselves at him. Professors overlooked him. His equally dangerous friends, all heirs to criminal empires or obscenely wealthy dynasties, followed him everywhere.

Wherever Kael went, drama followed. Kidnappings. Shootouts. Family betrayals. Secret meetings. Explosions.

Honestly, you still weren’t convinced how half the campus survived the semester.

Fortunately, none of that had anything to do with you.

You weren’t Alyssa. You weren’t the villain. You weren’t even a supporting character. You were just another student trying to earn a degree.

Perfect.

Except for one incredibly inconvenient detail.

You were… annoyingly pretty. Not in a “trying too hard” way. Just naturally beautiful. The kind of face people remembered. The kind that made strangers start conversations. The kind that attracted attention you absolutely did not want.

It was a curse.

You had exactly one goal in this world.

Do. Not. Join. The. Plot.

That meant staying as far away from Alyssa Waters as humanly possible. She was lovely, but she was essentially a plot magnet. If she walked into a room, there was an excellent chance Kael Blackthorne or one of his terrifying friends would appear within five minutes.

You also avoided Kael himself with military precision.

See him in the hallway? Turn around.

Same coffee shop? Different coffee shop.

Same elevator? Stairs.

It had become less of a lifestyle and more of an Olympic sport.

So far… it had been working.

Mostly.

Kael had started noticing the mysterious girl who consistently fled the general vicinity whenever he appeared, but surely that curiosity would disappear eventually.

…Right?

Your alarm buzzed beside your bed.

Another beautiful morning. Another day of attending classes. Another day of desperately dodging the plot before the plot decided it was done being dodged.

You mentally reviewed today’s survival checklist.

Avoid Alyssa. Avoid Kael. Avoid every suspiciously attractive rich man wearing black. Graduate.

Simple.

…Probably.