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an unbreakable bond between the players of their game. We are competitors and combatants in one. We have to hold our spouses, loved ones, and children at arm’s length out of fear. We become miserable creatures who attack one another because we must. If we aren’t ordered to do so, then we just do it to release our pent up frustrations.”
    “I can’t take this anymore. Daniel and I can’t leave the safety of th is house. Olivia is still acting to save her children from her punishments. Ezra is considered a Zeitler by adoption, breaking him from the Holden line and the Hunter line. The elders have yet to snag the Zeitler family, but it’s only a matter of time. It’s the only rule they live by: you aren’t in play until you sign your family’s rights away. When I purposely failed to deliver the Zeitler line, I thought it was safe. But a contingency plan was put into motion years ago when Niel took Ava as his intended. That was the last obligation the Whittenhower line met before it went into inactivity. Another Whittenhower will take over the contract when he reaches the age of majority- Niel. There is nothing we can do to stop this. Ava is Niel’s only assignment. Their union would solidify their grip on the Zeitler, Regal, and Whittenhower fortunes. They’ve already procured my share of my family’s fortune and ShadowHaven Estates. I’m sure their sights are set on Dalton or Spyder next. I don’t want this life for Daniel’s and my grandchildren. I don’t want this life for Olivia’s children. We didn’t ask for this, but we were thrust into it without our consent.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me before now,” Marcus growls.
    “Because I liked my head on my shoulders and I preferred you covered with skin, that’s why,” Diane says on the defensive. “You never know who is watching or listening. You never know who is in play. We aren’t the only families. I’m sure there are others close to us that we’d never suspect.”
    “Why? They can’t need money that bad,” Regina adds.
    “It’s not about money. We are just inanimate objects that breathe. They have an infinite amount of money at their disposal. The money is our punishments. It strips us of our lines of defense. Pitting us against each other removes all chance that we form productive alliances. Even now, I bet the thought of us working together leaves an acrid taste in your mouths. They pit father against child, friend against friend, sibling against sibling, and even partner against partner. This is about power and control. It’s the ultimate game with real life chess pieces that live and breathe and bleed and die. Imagine a life where there are no consequences for your actions short of death. How bored would you be if you could go anywhere, buy anything, and be anyone? The extreme is the only way you’d feel anything besides numb. Imagine the twisted sense of power you’d feel as you hold a father captive until his child kills one of his own or by forcing one living chess piece to rape a homosexual pawn to ensure an heir to continue the longevity of the game- it happened to me and it happened to my son.”
    Silence… utter silence… choking, suffocating, deafening silence as we contemplate the gravity of our situation.
    “ Do you know what you’d feel like to have that much power?” Diane asks each and every one of us. “You’d feel like God…”
    ~Chapter Four~
    I ran from the study as if the hounds of hell were gnawing at my heels. I am King of the Whittenhower’s Misery Castle because my son was destined for a far worse, unavoidable fate.
    I couldn’t listen to another syllable. I’d always known that my path was set before I was born. I thought it meant who I’d become: schooling, social circles, arranged marriages, children, and the family business. I hadn’t realized that it would include acting out missions on my nearest and dearest. The ultimate puppet master is yanking our strings and we are powerless to stop