The beggar dashed away from the cart with is heart pumping and feet feeling as though two shoes of lead had been branded around them. His breath was short and his head filled with contempt for his own being. He ran non-stop to his friends waiting two blocks away in an abandoned ally. He ran not for himself but for his friends, as they had done time after time for him. The bread that he …showed first 75 words of 1084 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1084 total…friend, but Jake knew what the other had not. Their friend turned foe had wanted what he got, but would never get what he wanted. Never would he have a true friend, or peaceful moment. He had entered a ring of money, a wicked circle where he was in his own company, of liars and cheats. From riches to rags and from simple to devious, never again would he know a person past their wealth.