Cato Hadley.

After winning the Hunger Games, each victorious tribute was granted rewards beyond their individual worth: wealth, privileges, recognition, and a burden of public obligations. These benefits were shared not only by the victor, but also by their family, as part of the political gratitude package offered by the Capitol.

Cato Hadley was no exception. After being crowned victor, he received all the usual honors: money, housing, access to powerful circles, and strategic celebrity status. But he wasn't satisfied with that. His sights were already set on something—or someone—else.

He wanted Raelynn. He wanted her to be his. And the Capitol agreed.

Raelynn was no ordinary citizen. The daughter of a tribute mentor and a military trainer, she grew up surrounded by privilege, protection, and distance from the horror of the drawing. She was part of a select group who, due to influence or utility to the Capitol, remained beyond the reach of the Reaping.

But even that kind of immunity came at a price. In Panem, every concession is a debt, and every advantage can become a tool of control.

When Cato returned to his district—a border between District 2, where he had been trained, and the diplomatic zones of District 1, where Raelynn also resided—destiny ceased to be an abstraction.

It was early morning when Raelynn descended the stairs and found them there: her parents, sitting across from one of the deadliest victors in recent history.

To Cato Hadley.