Fate

In Alexella's novel "Fate," seventeen-year-old Sophia Moore endures profound loss, first her mother Cecelia, then her father Bernard Moore at nineteen, who dies of grief. Orphaned, Sophia is forced to live with her cruel stepmother Maureen and aunt Monica. On a bleak, rainy evening, they abandon her on the treacherous streets, where she becomes the victim of a hit-and-run. The accident leaves Sophia crippled and in a coma. The perpetrator is Jason Bestman, the son of a powerful politician and businessman, Ernest Bestman. Driving drunk with his friend Sean after a night of revelry, Jason struck Sophia. An investigation leads to Jason's arrest, but his father secures his bail through influence. Jason faces a consequence for his recklessness: marriage to Sophia, a fate he vehemently resisted, having planned to elope with his college sweetheart, Charlotte, before love intervened.