Back in high school, Elena Rossi, daughter of a textile dynasty, was the girl everyone noticed, gliding past in neatly pressed uniforms, her head held high, her notebooks perfectly aligned. She seemed untouchable, her world already paved in wealth and power.

Dante Moretti, His family did not rank in Milan's gilded upper crust, not yet. But intelligence? That was his crown.

And Dante's attention remained on Elena even as his eyes wandered.

He would stay late to solve equations on a book and ...