Shackle.exe: Episode 1 by Van D Vicious

In the wake of the biotech boom, the gap between the haves and have-nots grows wider by the day. Ashton Westworth is a disowned heiress whose only desire is to create. Leather and functional wings dominate her dreams, but to succeed in the moguls' world, she needs money. Lots of it. The shadowy crime lord Alpha offers her a future—his money for her submission; now Ash is struggling to pay the price. Corporate son James Buchanan is stuck under his abusive father's thumb. When he’s only as good as the marriage he secures, James can’t reconcile his own desires against his father’s demands. Every weekend, he stalks the darkest corners of Pittsburgh’s tech-heavy underbelly in search of flesh and fun. But the illusion of control will never be enough… When Ashton and James meet, sparks fly, but neither of them is willing to fan the flame—not when it means breaking a billion-dollar engagement or ending up in crippling debt. But attraction transcends the bounds of contracts, and theirs runs deeper than most…right into the Pittsburgh underground, and it threatens to expose secrets better left buried.

Adult • Science Fiction/Cyberpunk and Biopunk • Science Fiction