She didn't come to law school to make friends.She came to win.In Washington, DC — a city built on power, posturing, and polite conformity — Isabel is already an outsider.Brilliant. Abrasive. Restless.She prefers debate over small talk. Ideas over gossip. Strategy over popularity.Other women seem to navigate social expectations effortlessly. Isabel never has. She's too blunt. Too intense. Too unwilling to dilute her opinions to make a room comfortable.Law school was supposed to be simple:Work harder than everyone.Outthink everyone.Take what's hers.Instead, she finds herself surrounded by rivals, egos, unspoken hierarchies — and a growing sense that ambition alone won't protect her from desire.Because beneath the sharp edges and sarcasm lies something far more dangerous:Longing.Frustration.A hunger for connection that doesn't require her to shrink.In this prequel to the Law School Heretic Series, discover the moments that shaped Isabel — the friendships, tensions, missteps, and sparks that ignite a journey defined by independence, moral complexity, and miscalculated risks.For readers who love bold, intellectually fierce heroines who refuse to be pigeon-holed — and who understand that strength and vulnerability can exist in the same woman.