Danielle Sanchez has her hopes high for the future, but she must keep them small. Chugging through life’s storms fearlessly, fate throws her a curve ball and her father ends up in jail for embezzling public funds, leaving her torn, broken and penniless. Refusing to sit idle, she borrows a friend’s car and takes up driving to earn some cash. She’s a woman, and it’s not the best of jobs, or the most lucrative, but she has no choice.

Everything is going well, until he got in that night.

And her entire world changed.

Patterson Stephens is concerned with nothing but his job. A staunch workaholic, he has no time for women or fun, until he sets his eyes on the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. Danielle is the girl of his dreams, and he’s madly in love with her, but she’s doing everything she can to keep him out of her heart. Good thing he’s determined, because giving her up is not an option.

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1: Danielle.

As I stretch, I roll onto my side and feel myself begin to fall. I slide over the edge of sofa and catch myself just before I face plant onto the polished wood floor. If there’s one thing I miss about my old life it’s a bed. It’s sad because I should miss my parents but I’ll never see either of them again unless it’s on the news.

I sit up on the floor and sigh. I keep falling off the couch and I’m pretty sure my luck will run out and I’ll end up with a bloody nose. But it won’t be anything compared to the way my life has fallen apart.

The feds stormed our penthouse high-rise and took my mother just as the door on my father’s cell slammed shut. Everything about my dad was a sham. He was one of the biggest frauds of all time and I’ve heard whispers of a movie being made about it. Yippie for me. Reporters will come climbing out of the woodwork to find me and ask me questions. They’ll be disappointed to find out I knew nothing.

I wasn’t shocked by the news because I knew from a very young age that even if you wore a fancy suit you could still be a criminal. You’re just a thug that knows how to dress well. If you ask me that’s scarier than how easily my father could slip into one person then another. I’m still not sure who he really is.

Luckily neither parent wanted me around much. If I had to guess I’d been a mistake but I never asked. It was clear my parents might have been in love at one point but were really only together in the end because it benefited the both of them.

The local boarding school was a dream for all of us even if I hated the place. At least there I felt I was left alone for the most part. I played the part while I was there and did all the things that would make me fit in. I never truly felt like I belonged, so maybe I’m more like my father than I realize.

When my parents were arrested, I had everything pulled out from under me and I was left standing there alone. I’d always thought of myself as a loner, but it wasn’t until everyone was really gone that I began to understand the reality of what that truly meant. Even if I wasn’t close to my parents, they were a safety net. A boarding school wasn’t a place you could stay if there was no one paying the bill.

I saw parents who were close with their children, but I saw a large majority that were like mine. I didn’t know which way was normal but I was glad that I wasn’t close to mine when all was said and done. Maybe it made it easier to pick up the pieces they left behind, but considering I’m still doing it, what do I know.

I rub the sleep out of my eyes knowing it’s going to be a long day. I worked late, but every time I tried to call it a night my alert would go off letting me know someone else needed a ride. To me each ride meant more money. I knew I shouldn’t be picking up people so late in the area I was at, but it’s hard to turn down the money when I need it. The one thing I never realized was how much it cost to live.

I was put into the state’s foster system for six months until my eighteenth birthday. There was nothing left from my family and all their assets has been frozen. The government kept it to try and pay back whatever damage my father had done.

No one would take me in because I’d become Nicholas Martinez’s tainted daughter. Most of the friends I had were gone since their parents told them to have nothing to do with me. Others had gone on with their lives when they left to go to college. I got lucky when my one friend, Cara, had taken me in. She let me crash on her sofa and use her car, which was my only way of making a living. We’d never been close in school, but when I ran into her and she made the offer I couldn’t turn it down. I’d just gotten let go from the foster system and had no idea what I was going to do next. All those years at a fancy private school didn’t prepare me for poverty.

Cara and I made a deal when I moved in. I agreed to do her college homework and she takes a part of my earnings each night. In exchange I get to sleep on her couch and use her car for free. What choice do I have? I’m trying to get enough money together to get my own place, but that would leave me without a car. I get it. Thankfully she doesn’t need her car and she’s on break from school. But at the rate I’m going, I’ll never be able to get out from under myself.

It’s like quicksand; the harder I try to fight my way out, the faster I sink. It doesn’t help that I’m pretty sure Cara is charging me for using her car because she wants the cash. I think she’s putting it up her nose since her dealer doesn’t take daddy’s credit card. What can I really say though? I have no choice now that my life rests in the hands of a cokehead.

"You’ve been worse places," I remind myself as I drag my ass back up onto the sofa.

Cara comes stumbling into the house and I glance over at the clock to make sure I read it right. She should still be asleep, but here she is with messy blonde hair, smudged makeup, and her designer shoes in hand. She looks like a rail-thin mess. She’s using something, but we aren’t close enough for me to ask. Nor do I want to poke at the person who’s keeping a roof over my head and a job in my hands.

"Hey," I say as I clear my throat.

"Don’t judge me; at least I’m getting laid." She stomps past me to her room and slams the door behind her.

What the hell was that? I sigh as I get up to close the front door she’s left wide open. I need to get out of here before she wakes up from her nap. She’ll just get up and begin whatever she did last night all over again.

When I try to close the door, a hand slaps against it to keep it from moving. I look up at Lance, Cara’s older brother. God, I don’t think I’ve seen him since he graduated. He was a few years older than us and had gone off to college after I started. All of the freshman in my class were happy to see him go. He was a cocky jerk who bullied everyone. Sadly, most of the other boys ended up doing the same thing when we got older. It’s crazy how people can turn into the person they hate, but I’ve made a promise to myself that I won’t turn out the same.