ABOUT THE BOOK

RENT MONEY: Pretty, Broke and Dangerous

One Night. One Bag.

One Wrong Move.

Christmas in Newark. Rent’s due. Vee’s done playing nice. She didn’t ask for the bag full of cash—but she’s not giving it back either. One night. One city. One choice that changes everything.

A Female Anti-Hero You'll Love

Valencia “Vee” is sharp, stylish, and running out of time. Raised around hustle and schemes, she knows how to move quietly and think fast, but this time, she steals the wrong bag and becomes the target of people who don’t forgive mistakes.

High Stakes, No Safe Exit

For readers who crave fast plots, fierce women, and fiction that doesn’t flinch. Set against gritty city streets and the pressure of rent coming due, the story unfolds in real time, every step, every choice, every consequence. Trust is fragile. Time is short. Survival isn’t guaranteed.

What You’ll Get Free

An explosive Prologue + Chapter 1
Start at the exact moment everything goes wrong. No slow build, no filler — just raw tension, hard choices, and the spark that sets the entire series on fire.

Meet Vee: Pretty, Broke, and Dangerous
She’s not a hero. She’s not a villain. She’s a woman with nothing to lose, sharp instincts, and a past that refuses to stay buried — and once you meet her, you won’t forget her.

Get pulled into the streets of Newark before anyone else
Feel the grit, the hunger, the power plays, and the unspoken rules of survival. Newark isn’t just a setting — it’s a character, and it bites.

See how desperation turns into leverage
Watch the moment survival stops being enough, and strategy takes over. This is where choices become weapons and trust becomes currency.

Be first in line for the series, bonus chapters, and merch drops
Early access, exclusive content, and drops only insiders hear about. If this story hits, you’re already inside the circle.

Meet The Author

MUQARABUN

From Graphic Design to Bestselling Author.

Muqarabun is a rising voice in urban fiction, known for her raw, unflinching storytelling and complex female leads who survive, and thrive, on the edge. A former graphic designer turned author, she brings visual flair and narrative precision to stories rooted in survival, ambition, and self-determination.

Her breakout debut, Rent Money: Pretty, Broke, and Dangerous, takes place over a single winter night in Newark. With cinematic pacing, Muqarabun crafts a high-stakes urban thriller about Vee, a sharp-witted woman who finds herself holding a duffel bag full of rent money that doesn’t belong to her. What follows is a relentless chase through house parties, trap houses, and icy streets, where every choice could be her last.

Presented by New York Times bestselling author Wahida Clark, Muqarabun’s fiction pays homage to classic street lit while pushing the genre forward with fresh voice, sharp dialogue, and emotional depth. Her stories are designed for readers who crave more than action, they want heart, humor, and hard truths.

Currently working on her next series, Muqarabun continues to explore themes of survival, identity, and the cost of wanting more.

WHY RENT

MONEY WORKS

This isn’t a survival story. Vee isn’t trapped. She isn’t forced. She makes one unnecessary choice — and the story refuses to undo it.

Rent Money is about impulse, confidence, and the moment when someone ignores a clean exit.

Want the behind-the-scenes notes on why certain scenes were written the way they were? Join the Rent Money reader list.

Gallery

MEET THE CHARACTERS

Meet the characters who move through the city with Vee, where every alliance is risky and every encounter could turn deadly.

TRUSTED BY REAL READERS

“Rent Money grabbed me from page one and never let up. Vee feels real—flawed, desperate, and dangerous in the best way. This is street lit with teeth.”