Life before graduating from Crestwood University had been something close to perfect for Marcus. He, his parents, and his younger sister, Amber, were a close-knit, happy family. As a student at the prestigious university, he was the envy of his peers, and having a girlfriend as wonderful as Serena felt like the cherry on top of a charmed life.
But the picture-perfect life shattered during his senior year. His parents, after taking out a ten-million-dollar mortgage on their home and pouring every last cent of their savings and loans into a new company, watched it fail spectacularly. Shortly after, his father was killed in a car accident. It wasn't just a single catastrophe; it was an avalanche that buried them, and they lost everything.
Faced with the crushing debt and the company's financial records, they were helpless. His mother, unable to bear the immense pressure, fell gravely ill and was confined to bed.
