Born with a silver spoon and expected to do nothing more than keep it shiny and spotless, my family's wealth and expectations don't do me any favors. They think my refusal to do exactly as they wish is laziness. Sloth. I don't care that they call me the good for nothing one in the family. Their judgments roll off my back like water. I know where my true value is.

They send a lackey to retrieve me. His plan is to bring me back into the family fold. My plan is to drive him right back into the den of vipers the rest of them are so happy to writhe around in. I didn't expect him to see through all my artifices to find the real me, or to break down my walls the way he has. Definitely didn't expect him to be the type to figure out exactly what I need in a relationship and be so frustratingly capable of providing it.

He'll lose everything he's been working toward if he can't return me to their gilded cage. I'll lose myself if I let him. Stalemate.