Chapter 1

I love money more than life itself. I would do absolutely anything for it.

When I was ten, my foster mother, Fiona, accused me of stealing. I decided to play along and make it official. I emptied her purse, stuffing every single dollar into my pockets.

"You want to call me a thief? Fine. I’d hate to let Fiona's accusation go to waste."

When she realized her money was actually gone, she went completely ballistic. She whipped me with a cane, forced me to kneel on broken glass, and screamed at me to hand over the cash.

"You little trash! You’re born rotten! How dare you steal Victor's college tuition!"

Trash?

I listened to her in silence. That night, I snuck into Victor's room, tore his graduation project into confetti, and stole his phone.

I had paid for that phone myself by selling wild herbs I picked in the woods.

"Now," I whispered to myself, "we’re both rotten."

When Fiona tried to sell me to a human trafficker, I beat her to the punch. In the middle of the night, I led the town's creepy old bachelor into her bedroom.

"She’s your new wife. Just give me ten grand in cash, and she's yours!"

Fiona went wild, chasing the old man out of the house with a butcher knife.

The day my billionaire biological family finally found me, Fiona’s eyes practically bled with jealousy.

"She’s a thief! She can’t be your daughter! You must have the wrong girl!"

My biological father didn’t even blink. He gently guided me into the back of his Rolls-Royce.

Once inside, he handed me a black card. "Spend whatever you want."

I twirled the card between my fingers and looked up at him.

"Christian, can you buy Fiona’s pigpen?"

"I want to live in it for a few days. I’ve never lived in such a big place before."