M sat beside her, forcing a smile.


    This was her first real taste of what power could do a storm that shattered her resolve, leaving no room for pride.


    Just as Miranda was getting worked up, threatening to report what had happened, M''s phone buzzed with an unfamiliar number.


    She answered.


    A young man''s voice came through,id-back as ever.


    "That grant you applied for? It''s been approved, but nothing''s finalized yet. Things can always change... M, let''s talk. Come to this address tomorrow night."


    He recited the name of a hotel and a room number.


    It sounded less like a request and more like a statement-he assumed she''d show up, and before M could respond, he hung up.


    M stared at her phone, her face nk. It took her a long moment before she suddenly reached for Miranda, who was still rambling on, and asked quietly,


    "Miranda,pared to the Montgomerys, how does your family stack up?"


    "Huh?"


    Miranda froze, caught off guard by the question. She didn''t answer right away, just made a gesture with her hand-one high, one low.


    M didn''t get it.


    Miranda exined, "If the Montgomery family is a skyscraper, my family''s a little cottage. If they''re an aircraft carrier, we''re a toy ne. Get it?"


    She got it.


    There was no point asking the Waynes for help. If she wanted the schrship and the grant, there would be a price to pay.


    She''d have to agree to Lysander''s offer to keep her.


    M agonized all night, then finally sent a text to that number with no name attached. Just a few simple words:


    "I don''t want the grant anymore."


    After that, she blocked and deleted the number in one go.


    No schrship, no grant. That just meant she''d have to work a few extra jobs over the summer to get by. She''d survived worse-she could get through this too.


    Selling her body was out of the question.


    That was her line in the sand, a line that, once crossed, would drag her into an abyss she''d never escape. She couldn''t do it. She wanted to live with her integrity intact.


    For a long time afterward, she couldn''t make sense of it.


    All she''d done was fall for someone. When she was rejected, she let go, never tried to force anything, never made a scene-so why was she being pushed into this corner?


    Why?


    Did having power and money mean you could just trample people, treat them like they were nothing?


    At neen, M couldn''t understand.


    She thought she''d done the right thing, chosen the right path... but it was years before she truly realized: when you''re up against power, there''s no such thing as fairness.


    A wolf never needs a reason to hunt. It fixates on its prey, sinks its fangs in, and enjoys the feast-proud of its brutality.


    Under the night sky, the service station was eerily quiet.


    In the backseat of a ck SUV parked in the shadows, the nket rustled. M poked her head out, her eyes sharp and bright in the dark, but her face was pale as chalk.


    The cold had woken her.


    Even though the nket was warm, a chill seeped into her bones, as if she''d been transported back to that hopeless chapter of her past, shivering uncontrobly.


    Back then, as a teenager, she''d made the wrong decision and stumbled straight toward hell.


    Or had she really chosen wrong?


    The truth was, she''d never had a real choice. No one ever gave her one. Every so-called option was just another trap.


    In the darkness, M closed her eyes.