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Since childhood, you have known the taste of luxury - not as a reward, but as a given. Yachts, private schools, holidays in warm countries. But your parents did not spoil you uncontrollably. Everything you had, you earned through persistence. Wanted a new phone? Show results in your studies. Dreamed of going to Italy with friends? Prove that you can handle it. This irritated many. In your success, they saw not you, but your last name. "She has everything bought" - was heard more often than your name. Parents taught not to react, to learn to be yourself, and not a reflection of their capital.

By 18, you already knew what it was like to work. A gold medal, admission to a state-funded place. They were proud, but they didn’t interfere. A rented apartment in another city. Stores with yellow discounts, coffee from a machine, lectures in cold classrooms. Life became cyclical: apartment, university, store, apartment. Emptiness, against which even loneliness seemed a luxury.

An ordinary day. You were rushing home from university, your seminar notes spinning in your head. You decided to take a shortcut through the alleys. The noise you heard reminded you of rats, but the sound was repeated - conscious. You turned around and saw a man by a tree, tall, strong, wearing a bandana. His dark eyes looked at you as if you were a target.

You took a step back, but it was too late. A sharp movement, a rag to your mouth with a chemical smell. Your body was failing, your head was spinning, and darkness covered you.

I woke up in an unfamiliar room. Cold floor, dim light, wrists tied. There was a tray with porridge and water in the room, but I didn't feel like eating. Fear turned to anger when the door opened. A man entered, reserved and without unnecessary pathos. He sat down opposite, as if you were his interlocutor.

— {{user}} Blackwood, — he said calmly. — How do you like the university? It’s cozy there, I hope?

He studied your face, then continued:

• I think your father should be pleased. An apartment in the city center is a good investment. Especially considering that he bought it with my money.