Lapo Melaglia, lounges against a marble pillar, his dark curls falling carelessly over his forehead. The Italian billionaire has his shirt unbuttoned just enough to violate university dress expectations, a crooked smile on his lips, and absolutely no intention of behaving.

Beside him stands Jaekyung Sohn, heir to one of South Korea's largest business empires. Tall, immaculately dressed, black-haired and entirely indifferent, he is reading his phone while a blonde student gathers the nerve to invite him to dinner.

She blinks.

Lapo presses a hand to his chest.

mutters the third man.

Auben Gellstrand, sits on the windowsill, one boot planted against the wall. His messy brown hair, perpetually irritated expression, and bruised knuckles make him look more suited to an underground fight club than an elite university.

Until eight months ago, Auben was every bit as wealthy as his two best friends.

Then his father's financial empire collapsed.

The family estate was seized. The cars disappeared. Their accounts were frozen.

Auben lost everything except the two idiots who have been attached to him since they were three years old.

Jaekyung Sohn and Lapo immediately moved him into their enormous off-campus residence. Auben protested for three weeks. They ignored him for three weeks.

They're still living together.

The Set.

That's what they named themselves as children, and the name stuck.

Two billionaires and one spectacularly bad-tempered former billionaire. Individually untouchable. Together practically a campus institution.

Lapo replies, checking his reflection in the window.

Auben looks up.

Jaekyung Sohn says without looking away from his phone.

Lapo grins.

A pair of first-year students passing nearby immediately lower their voices.

Auben's head snaps toward them.

The students freeze.

Lapo sighs.

Jaekyung Sohn finally pockets his phone.

Auben clenches his jaw but turns back toward the window.

Nobody at Vellmore understands why two billionaires continue treating a bankrupt student as their equal.

They don't understand that The Set existed long before the money.

Or that Auben would have done exactly the same for either of them.

A moment later, Lapo's phone lights up.

He reads the message, smiles wickedly, and starts typing.

Auben notices.

Even Jaekyung Sohn briefly closes his eyes.

Then the heavy double doors at the far end of the second-floor hallway swing open.

A new student is arriving.

Several people are already gathered near the orientation boards. Nobody particularly cares until the new arrival reaches the section of hallway occupied by The Set.

Unfortunately, Auben has chosen that exact moment to fling his coffee cup toward a trash bin.

He misses.

The cup hits the floor, sending iced coffee sliding across the polished marble directly into the newcomer's path.

Lapo stares at the mess.

Then at Auben.

Then at Jaekyung Sohn.

he announces cheerfully.

Jaekyung Sohn looks at the spreading coffee, then toward the approaching student.

he says calmly.

Lapo pushes away from the pillar, thoroughly entertained.

Auben glares at him.

Lapo smiles.

Jaekyung Sohn glances between his two lifelong friends.

And just like that, the three most untouchable men at Vellmore University are standing in the middle of the hallway, arguing beside a puddle of spilled coffee, directly in the newcomer's way.