Page 1 of Corrupt Me

Secrets. Deceit. Power. That’s the corrupt legacy I was born into. I have been in a stalemate for years, wishing nothing more than to escape the golden prison of the Family.

Two hundred years ago, six families laid the foundation for what would become an impressive empire: the Astors, the Vosses, the Sinclairs, the Langleys, the Prescotts, and the Fairchilds. Each family rules over a business sector—finance, real estate, healthcare, retail, education, and telecommunication—amassing so much power and influence that the Family has become untouchable and unfathomably rich.

The firstborn of each generation leads the empire, becoming the matriarch or patriarch of the Family, and serves as the unofficial ruler of Delaware, with the headquarters in Greenville.

Obedience has been paramount. You must follow the rules, or there will be consequences. In a worst-case scenario, that includes death. I don’t even know if dying would be worse than being an unwanted child and a thorn in the eye of the last matriarch, Grandmother. What I did wrong to deserve the harsh treatment remains a mystery, but apologizing for my existence seems pointless.

I learned a long time ago that you must adapt to survive. In the Family, the surest way to stay alive is to avoid attention—at least, that was my credo until everything changed drastically. Celine, the Langley heir, returned and she brought with her a cavalcade of upheaval. The most significant included finding out the Prescotts were still alive, Celine’s mother, Cassandra, had survived the accident, and Grandmother had passed away. Oh, and there weren’t only six founding families, but seven.

The Family is so dysfunctional that I doubt it’s salvageable, but I’ll always stay and try my best for my friends. With them by my side, I have survived. They own my complete loyalty.

My friends—Kaden Astor, Abigail Voss, and her boyfriend Dane Donovan, Blake Sinclair, Celine Langley, Mia and Hunter Prescott, and I—are the heirs of the Family. But luckily, we won’t have to carry our families’ names once we marry. That’s the only big change Cassandra Langley, the current matriarch, made.

We’ll embrace the new Family name: Arison. Cassandra undid a wrong from the past by taking the name of the only female founding member, Clara Arison. Clara never married because that would have meant renouncing her seat and power to her husband. After her death, her influence faded—along with the rules she stood for: trust, respect, and togetherness vanished. Over time, she was forgotten.

Until now.

Not only will we end the greed that corroded the Family for over a century, but we will also end the battle for power. We will become one irrevocable unity––a Family under one name.

I don’t even care about renouncing my family name, Fairchild. It has brought me nothing but heartbreak.

After Grandmother’s death, things have changed for the better. Cassandra is different. I am not invisible to her. On the contrary, she was the first to ask me what I would like to do with my life.

I wanted to say finding love, which would be idiotic. I am good at one thing: coding and hacking. Computer programming is my world where, behind a screen, I am someone. It was that constant feeling of powerlessness that pushed me to learn. With code, you give instructions to a computer and become a creator. What started as a way to cope turned into a passion, something that kept me grounded.

It has kept me sane—sane in the face of parents who saw me as a nuisance. Sane when Kaden came up with an escape plan. Sane when Caleb Sinclair and Felix Astor were on the run. One is dead now, but the most dangerous one, Felix, is out there, biding his time.

It’s me versus him. He shouldn’t have stolen the money from me. Even though I stole it from the Family, diligently withdrawing bit by bit with a bug I infiltrated into the financial system. Ten million dollars, gone. It’s not necessarily about the sum—it’s a drop in a bucket to the Family’s finances. It’s the sting of being outsmarted. That money represented our way out, not only funding our escape, but starting a new life.

I failed, but once I pulled myself together, I pondered how that happened, quickly concluding it was Felix. He must have had help from someone in my vicinity. It has to be someone from my class. I’ll find that person, and I’ll find him next. Felix has caused enough harm to the only family I know: my friends.

My transformation took root inside of me when Grandmother was on her deathbed. It was the first time she looked at me differently—not with the usual disdain, but almost contemplatively.

She said something that I haven’t stopped thinking about for months now.

“The sins of the parents are not yours to carry. I apologize.”

Then she gifted me something antique—a small compact golden box designed to hide secret messages, just waiting for me to crack. I opened it immediately, but the note inside was blank. The box sits on my desk, a constant reminder that there’s still another puzzle to solve.

What sins? What secret could have been so terrible that every time she looked at me, she sighed deeply, preferring to disregard my presence altogether?

A headache pounds behind my temples. I have pushed and pushed myself beyond exhaustion, but I can’t give up. My friends are relying on me.

Staring back at the screens, I scan the dozens of tabs open, even though Cassandra gave me an entire IT team to handle the analysis. I can’t give up control. Felix is sneaky. He got close once, and he will do it again. Time is not on my side.

My friends are away for the weekend, enjoying a romantic getaway, which will give me uninterrupted time to work. Celine and Kaden are at their vacation home, Abigail and Dane are at their house, and Mia and Blake are at their lodge.

I am at the college house, in my room—it’s minimalistic and airy, with just the necessary amenities: a queen-sized bed with two nightstands, an overstuffed armchair by the window, and a walk-in closet leading to an en suite bathroom. My desk is where I spend most of my time—a computer, two screens, and a laptop are open 24/7. If I could forsake sleep, I would.

I need quiet to focus, but that has long been obliterated since he crashed into my life—intrusively. It’s as if he lives to drive me mad.

I’m not alone at the house. Even though Hunter dislikes me profoundly, he also watches over me, like a damn thorn pricking my side and hijacking my attention.

To say it’s complicated would be simplistic.

When he came to Greenville, he had a mission and planned to use the weak link to get information: me. I should be insulted, but I’ve always thought it’s better to be underestimated. There’s no pressure and no possibility of disappointing someone. That not only gives you a secret advantage, but it feels freaking awesome when people realize you’re more than what they thought of you.

Hunter and I started as a lie, continued as a headache, and now we’re in this limbo of back-and-forth—bickering, then ignoring each other. It’s exhausting.

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