d the dorm ro

tting cross-legged on the cheap ru

brochures and thick application packe

ed straight

f expensive, carefully prepared application materials

the bottom of the

She pushed her thick black

r eyes wide with shock. "You've be

desk chair and sat down

ad school," Allison announced.

r behind them and

urface-level summary of her brutal confrontation with Judd at the company t

pulled out a freezing can of Diet Coke,

percent for this Manhattan re

he cold soda. The carbo

nto SSOL, Columbia's notoriously t

en loade

y morning and late evening," Allison mutte

Clair

at the Lee Group's Wall Street headquarters," Allison explaine

nd looked over Allison's sho

of text. "The Advanced Finance S

tared at

its," Claire warned. "And it's basically the

moved to the in

ld, black pixe

onversation in the hallw

looking away from the screen. "What i

ossing her jack

website only lists his first initial. They

ewed on he

York was full of elite men with the

cked the 'Register' button. She claimed t

warning box popped up on

ance attendance policy. One unexcused absen

She confidently

anagement skills to balance a hostile corporat

e laptop with

the folding doors open. She needed armor for h

ilored black Tom Ford suit. She hung

her phon

an encrypted text messa

ality clause in section

was brutal i

it was. It was Elliot, her

ack a singl

her contacts under the n

the dorm wa

he stared at the ceiling. Her brain w

of her father's will. The cold, sharp line of El

d, tangling her legs

ff. The shrill electronic beeping cu

sat up v

en, burning with raw ambition and a desperate