The Rival's Alibi

Julian Cross is the most feared student at Eastbrook Law School, a devastating cross-examiner who has never lost a moot court round. His only equal is Adrian Vance, the scholarship student whose icy precision has made him Julian's sworn rival since orientation. Their cold war ends the night Adrian is accused of leaking Professor Marcus Aldridge's confidential gene therapy patent research to a predatory litigation fund. The evidence is airtight: Adrian's credentials were used, the transfer logs point to his laptop, and the expulsion board is eager to close the case. Julian was the last person anyone expected to have seen the truth—he was cutting through the law library after hours and caught a glimpse of the actual thief, a shadowy figure with access to Adrian's credentials. Now Julian is the sole alibi witness for the man he despises, but his testimony alone is not enough. To exonerate Adrian, they must trace a conspiracy that runs from student-run law journals to a hidden patent war between faculty members—Professor Crane and Professor Aldridge—all while navigating years of poisoned history. Working in secret, trading strategies in coffee-stained study rooms at 3am, they begin to recognize in each other the same relentless intellect and hidden fragility. Every late-night session becomes a gamble on trust neither can afford to lose. But exoneration is only the first battle. The litigation fund that received the leaked research has backers with deep pockets and deeper grudges, and its connection to a decades-old scandal—the very scandal that destroyed Adrian's father—means the real fight is just beginning.