The Hostage's Price BOOK 5 OF 6: CAPTIVE'S CONTRACTHe became a god to save his city. Now, his power is his prison, and his heart is the hostage.Caleb Rossi wears the crown of Veridia City's Controller, wielding near-limitless power through the Vow-chip. But it's a crown of thorns, bound to a dead man's protocol that will destroy everything if he falters. Haunted by the past and desperate to build a just future, he forms an uneasy truce with Enzo Vettori, the cold, deposed Don whose legacy is the very poison Caleb seeks to cure.In a defiant act of hope, Caleb adopts Leo, a Wastes orphan, as the Heir of Veridia. But this symbol of a new beginning becomes the ultimate vulnerability. Treacherous forces, led by the calculating Marcus Thorne and backed by the ruthless Northern Star Conglomerate, see their chance.A brutal invasion shatters the fragile peace. Leo is abducted. The city's core processor is captured. The enemy's demand: Caleb's absolute surrender. Their leverage: the life of his son and thousands more in Veridia's central hospital, wired to the same deadly clock.Forced into an impossible corner, Caleb must choose: sacrifice the boy who represents his soul, sacrifice the city he's sworn to protect, or surrender his own free will to a fate worse than death. His only ally is the monster he despises, a man grappling with his own devastating past. Can these broken kings find a way to defy the inevitable, or will the price of their legacy be the ashes of everything they hold dear?The Hostage's Price is a gripping sci-fi thriller exploring the devastating cost of power, the savage nature of hope, and the impossible choices made when humanity clashes with control. Fans of complex anti-heroes and high-stakes dystopian worlds won't be able to put this down.