Chapter 6: The Price of Survival

Unlike Luke’s blunt force, Grant Cooper specialized in slow torture. Death by a thousand cuts.

On the second day after I crossed Madison, both my part-time jobs dropped me. The coffee shop and the bookstore—gone within hours.

My homeroom teacher avoided my eyes, muttering that my financial aid application had failed. "Budget cuts."

Grant Cooper knew exactly where to cut. My family was dirt poor—my dad dead, my mom sick, every penny counted.

He made sure I couldn’t find work. Every new job disappeared within two days. And then came the business cards—sleazy men in gold watches, offers from sketchy “clubs.”

Grant blocked every path except the one that led to ruin. He wanted to see me broken, another offering for Madison.

But Grant was still just a rich boy playing at power, not the ruthless CEO he’d become. I still had moves to make.

I smiled and dialed my next play.