By the time Nelson made it back upstairs, Irene had curled herself into the corner of one of the plush waiting room chairs, knees tucked to her chest, phone resting in a forgotten position on her lap. She glanced up when he sat down beside her."It's handled," he said quietly, before she could open her mouth to ask.She nodded, with some of the tension easing out of her shoulders, and shifted just enough to lean against his arm.For a long time after that, neither of them said much of anything.The waiting room existed in a strange, suspended kind of quiet: soft instrumental jazz music drifting down from hidden speakers, the occasional muffled announcement from somewhere down the hallb; probably a nurse or health inspectors, the faint hum of the city visible through the floor-to-ceiling window. Nelson found himself staring at his phone screen without actually reading anything on it, scrolling past the same three headlines over and over, none of the words managing to stick.He checked

The hour passed slower than any of the ones before it, which didn't seem possible until it happened.Nelson kept catching himself rehearsing things to say, then abandoning them halfway through because none of it sounded right in his head. Irene had stopped crying but hadn't really stopped either — she just sat there wiping at her face every few minutes out of habit, like her body hadn't gotten the memo that the worst part was supposedly over.When Ortega finally came back for them, he didn't say much. Just a small nod, "She's awake, she's asking for you," and that was somehow enough to get all three of them moving at once, chairs scraping against the floor.The walk to her room felt longer than it probably was. Nelson noticed things he wouldn't normally notice: a scuff mark on the tile, a janitor's cart parked crooked against the wall, the particular way hospital lighting makes everyone look a little washed out. He wasn't sure why his brain was cataloging any of it. Maybe it was easie

Breakfast that morning had been the kind of ordinary Nelson was quite used to: his mother burning the toast slightly and blaming the toaster instead of herself, Irene arguing that cereal counted as a legitimate breakfast, the three of them crowded around the same small table they'd used for years. He left the house with the lasting taste of coffee and the particular kind of lightness that came from a morning with nothing wrong in it.He was halfway through backing out of the driveway when the familiar golden shimmer bloomed at the edge of his vision.[Ding! System Upgrade Available.]Nelson eased the Corvette to a stop at the curb, letting the dialogue window expand fully into view.[Notice: Host has reached sufficient progression to unlock Level II functionality.][From this point forward, the System will also reward Wealth of Body and Mind][Physical conditioning, cognitive enhancement, health, longevity, and mental resilience in addition to material wealth. The System's aim is to c

Vivian studied him for a long moment after his declaration about the tower as if trying to calculate Nelson's moves to know if they were genuine or he was just bluffing. After a while, she finally let out a short, amused breath and pulled out the chair across from him."One meal," she said, settling into the seat gently. "Purely professional curiosity about the menu, of course… to know if the kitchen staff are actually doing their job perfectly.""Of course, it's your duty as head supervisor to know all these things… Now eat." Nelson said, hiding his smile behind his wine glass.They ate together for the better part of an hour, the earlier formality between them softening steadily with every course that arrived. By the time the last plates were cleared away by the same rotating platoon of servers who'd brought everything out, the conversation had drifted somewhere warmer and easier.Vivian rose eventually, smoothed her blazer back into place, and started walking towards the door."Bef

Nelson woke up to sunlight pouring in through windows that didn't have curtains yet, he was still dressed in the same clothes from the day before, he just dumped on the bed with one arm thrown over his eyes.He groaned sleepily before reaching blindly for his phone on the nightstand, then scrolling through a handful of notifications without really absorbing any of them before finally dragging himself upright and making his way toward the living room with his hands shoved into his pockets.'Still feels like a dream,' he thought, glancing around at the space that was somehow, impossibly, already his. 'Billionaire status, and I'm standing here in yesterday's clothes like nothing's changed.'He stretched lightly with an attempt to work the stiffness out of his shoulders, and let his mind wander toward the day ahead.'Right... The car.' A small, satisfied smile crossed his face. 'One bought with my own money, for once.'After a quick shower and a change of clothes, he made his way down tow