The Cost Of Access. Power & Proximity Series, #1

Simone Lain arrived at Xavier University determined to build a future on her own terms. Smart, ambitious, and driven, she believes education is her way out of financial uncertainty. But when mounting tuition bills, living expenses, and impossible choices threaten to derail her dreams, survival demands a different strategy. What begins as a calculated decision soon introduces Simone to a world she has only observed from a distance; a world of wealth, influence, privilege, and power.
Then she meets Malcolm Delacroix. A successful New Orleans attorney with influence in every room he enters, Malcolm offers Simone something she desperately needs: access. Access to opportunity. Access to financial security. Access to a life she never imagined possible. As their arrangement deepens, the lines between business and desire begin to blur. Simone finds herself navigating complicated questions about ambition, loyalty, independence, and the true cost of getting everything she thought she wanted.
Set against the backdrop of New Orleans, The Cost of Access is a compelling contemporary novel about power, proximity, survival, and the choices we make when opportunity comes with conditions.