The ringing of her alarm woke her up. She rubbed her eyes to get rid of the grogginess. It felt like she had tons of weight over her eyelids that made it difficult to keep them open. She checked the time and it was 1:00 a.m. She sat up making sure that her head doesn't collide with the stooped ceiling.

She had to go to work. She worked as a cashier at a supermarket near her house from 2:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. and after school, she worked as a waitress at a small café.

With such low wages, she could only afford food for her father and herself for the entire month. She also had to pay all their bills. She bought clothes for herself and her father from a local thrift shop whose owner gave her a special discount.

She was saving up some money for college. No one knew about that stash except for her. Every day she'd put two to four dollars into her nest egg. She has been saving for college for three years. She wasn't sure if she was lucky enough to win a scholarship for college as well. So, she had to plan everything.

She lazily strolled down to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth, showered. She didn't feel like going to work but she had to... She wasn't a normal teenager that could do whatever she wanted. At the age of seventeen, her main focus was how to survive the month without starving herself or her father while keeping up her grades and juggling two jobs with perfection. She was far from a normal teenager, she was mature and responsible.

She was getting ready to leave when she heard a ruckus coming from her father's room. She walked to where his room was and realize that her father was not alone. Voices of multiple men threatening and asking for their money fell on her ears. A gasp left her lips and she covered her mouth with her hands.

"I'm gonna blow his fucking brains out," someone said, and then she heard the cocking of the gun.

Without even thinking, she burst open her father's door. "DAD!" She cried out

Two men were holding his arms while another was beating him up. They all turned towards Chloe and her father frantically shook his head.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" They stared her up and down with lust swirling in their eyes.

"NO! Chloe, get out of here!" Her father shouted

The guy who was beating her father clasped her forearm and pulled her towards him. "No, please, no" Hugh sobbed. "I'll give you all the money back, every cent but please let my daughter go. She has nothing to do with all this. She is just a child, please" he begged them on his knees.

The man turned towards Chloe, "We need our money by the end of this month, and if we don't get our money..." He eyed Chloe up and down and licked his lips. "We'll take your daughter and sell her. I think she'll make us a fine buck"

Hugh fell to his feet and put his face on his shoe. "Two months" he sobbed. "Two months, that's all I'm asking, Tom"

The man named Tom kicked Hugh in the head and he squirmed holding his skull.

"Dad!" Chloe screamed afraid of the three bulky men standing in the room.

Tom slid his hand down her back and gave her butt a squeeze. "Fine, two months but I already have my eyes on the prize," he said smirking in Chloe's direction. "Come on" he ordered his man. They stepped over Hugh and left their house.

Chloe fell to the floor and held her father immediately. Wrapping both of her arms around her dad, they both sat there crying in pain and compulsion.

Her father pulled away and held his daughter's hands. "Now you listen to me and listen good. If you ever see any of those men anywhere again. You run! Don't think about me or your jobs or anything in this world. You run, Louie. Even if it means you can never see me again. Do you understand me? You run, Louie"

Her eyes burned with tears. "What about you, dad? I could never leave you"

He smiled and caressed her daughter's hair gently. "It's okay, I'll understand. I have nothing to live for except for you but you... You have your whole life ahead of you. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you, Louie" he wiped his tears and sighed. "Now, go or you are gonna be late for work"

"How much do you owe them?" She asked

"It's not important, now go"

"Maybe we can repay them... We have two months, dad"

He sighed. "We can not"

"How much do you owe them?" She asked again.

"One hundred thousand dollars," he told her.

She was shocked. "How?"

"I thought... I could give us a better life but I lost it all" he said with his head bowed down.

"I'll figure out a way," she stood up and walked out of her house with determination.

She will get herself and her father out of this mess.

Axel woke up at six in the morning, he did his daily routine and changed into his activewear. He picked up his cellphone and sent a quick 'good morning followed by a kiss emoji' text to Chloe. He came out of his bedroom and saw his father ready for the run as well.

"Ready, son?" He asked

"I was born ready" Axel retorted

His mother came out of her bedroom and placed a kiss on Axel's cheek. "Good morning, honey"

"Good Morning, mum" he replied

"Dominic," she nodded at her husband in acknowledgment.

"Vanessa," He gave her a stern nod.

"I need Axel to accompany me to a party tomorrow night. I just wanted you to know that. If you have any kind of pre-arrangement with our son, cancel it. I only get to see my son for only a few hours a week" She said with annoyance prominent on her face.

"You should be grateful to me that I even allow you to see him" Dominic sneered

"From what I remember I have as much as rights to our son as well as you. You can not tell me whether I can see him or not" She snapped

With slumped shoulders, Axel stood between his parents bickering over him. He stopped interfering long ago.

Dominic King and Vanessa King only stayed married for two reasons, one was their reputation as a strong, powerful couple in society and the second was their children, Axel and Charlotte. They thought divorce will be destructive to their children, so they stayed together in a loveless, toxic marriage. They didn't realize that staying together was more toxic to their children than the divorce. They were always bickering over the tiniest things and hated each other to death. They were not even loyal to one another and had many flings and affairs. Watching his parents with different people every day was painful to him but he never complained.

They were still squabbling when Axel finally spoke up. "Dad, we should go. I'm gonna be late for school"

"Let's go" Dominic ordered

They ran for ten miles and stopped to catch their breaths. His father sat down on a bench and gestured him to take a seat beside him. He sat down and drank some water.

"Don't ever make the same mistakes I did" Dominic said staring at nothing in particular.

With furrowed brows, Axel asked. "What mistakes?"

"Marrying the wrong woman," he said and glanced at his son. "I made one wrong choice and now I am stuck with it for the rest of my life. Your mother is an impressive woman in terms of society but I made the mistake of falling in love with her. So I'm warning you, do not involve love in your marriage, it only creates complications"

Axel looked away and didn't answer him. He didn't know what to say to his father. He was a domineering and authoritative man. He was afraid of him, he never really said it out loud but deep down Dominic scared him.

"You are the next generation of the Kings. King men lead with their brains, not with their hearts," he told his son.

Axel didn't understand why they were having this conversation. He just looked down on the ground and nodded along with everything his father said.

"Think of a woman as a business transaction. Look what she has to offer, do not be a goddamn fool and think about love. You'll need a woman who will strengthen your stature in a society like your friend Ella Carter" he said

Ella's name caught Axel's reaction. He finally looked at his father with a prominent line between his brows. "What does Ella have to do with this?" He asked, dreading his father's answer.

"I have seen her at business events with her father. At such young age, she sure knows how to hold herself. She's beautiful with good family background. Her father is a government official. Her mother is a businesswoman and she will also be one in the future, a fitting choice for a King"

Axel pursed his lips into a thin line, disappointedly. "Why are we having this conversation today, dad? It's not like I am getting married tomorrow" He said through gritted teeth. "I thought we had a plan, High school, Harvard, family business, and then marriage to carry on the King's lineage"

Dominic turned his head and raised his eyebrow. "We are having this conversation because you think you can deceive me and get away with it. I have eyes everywhere, don't you forget that!" He uttered loudly, he calmed himself and continued. "Whatever you have with that girl who regularly comes to your apartment... END IT! I don't care about how much you like her. We're the Kings, we don't fraternize with peasants. The girl that you should be dating is Ella Carter."

Axel cringed. "Dad, she's like a sister to me"

"You have only one sister and her name is Charlotte King. Make sure Ella Carter is your girlfriend by the end of this month" he ordered sternly. "Dump the other girl"

Axel's eyebrows snapped together. "Dad, I-"

Dominic cut him off. "This is the end of our conversation, Axel. Did I make myself clear?" He said, his face void of any emotion but Axel could see the warning and finality in his eyes. Giving up, he just nodded his head like an obedient son.