How to Climb the Chain

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**Mature and Disturbing Themes Ahead - Reader Discretion is Advised**

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It was in that following car ride that I let myself cry. It was a real gut-wrenching one, too. Everything I had done and strove to do in my life felt like a waste.

All the energy drained out of me. And the driver - Otto - dutifully tried to ignore all of it, including the quiet sniffling and small intakes of sobbing breath. I only noticed a brief flash of pity as he glanced in the rear view mirror, and then his gaze retreated back to the road. His expression back to being the ever impenetrable fortress my father hired him to be.

They were all the same. All of them knew how their employer was.

Especially Otto. For twenty years, he had known.

None of them cared.

Alone.

The traffic in Boston was terrible as usual and it had begun to rain, almost mirroring my mood. The thought of the sky having a break down too made me smirk. So, I gazed up at the dreary gray clouds, watching it between the gathering droplets on the car window just as Otto stopped at an intersection.

The downpour grew stronger as the other intersection took their greenlight. All the while, I considered my options. 

Perhaps, I'd go and pull out my college fund, then leave? It's not like he had ever let me develop a solid foothold in the company - I had a few connections, but none strong enough to wager a fight for power over. And, I wasn't even sure if I cared enough about the business at this point.

But I had a passion and aptitude for business - regardless of his hatred for me. Being born into it, it was all I knew and wanted to do.

I could develop other businesses, but only if I did so in a different city. And maybe if it was one not so close to Regulus Ranton. It was important that the headquarters weren't in New York. Otherwise, Regulus would stifle anything I attempted to start. That was the type of petty person he was. I had seen him do it to people who had just barely become affiliated with him - all because they had said something he didn't like or had done something to rub him the wrong way.

The car shifted forward when the light turned green, and I let out a shaky sigh. Separating myself from Regulus would be a tough, arduous task. Maybe it would be smart to consider a name change.

As I pondered moving forward, the car pulled out into the intersection and my eyes widened. The sound of someone's tires, squealing against the other street's asphalt, was incredibly loud against the pouring rain.

My hand flew to my seatbelt instinctively, as the vehicle darted forward. Just as it slammed into my side of the car, I pushed myself away from the door. 

The impact still sent me flying, my head slamming into the other side of the cab as it tipped and spun from the force of the other car's momentum.

I heard a window or windshield shatter, I was unsure which, but I felt glass cut into my calf. It didn't feel deep - however, my whole world was spinning and growing darker, probably from hitting my head. The light shifted in and out. My body suddenly aching.

Pain.

It was hard to move, and I found it difficult to gather myself - especially upon possibly broken glass. So, I just lay there instead - my vision trying to decide whether it would fade away or not.

Unfocused.

I heard something crash and creak outside the car - sirens beginning even farther away than that, like a distant echo.