"Because you are sitting at negative seventy nine on the Divorce Value tracker," Kyle told her, his voice carrying the casual cheerfulness of a man delivering good news. "And physical labor counts as contribution to the household. Every tree you plant earns you a point. Sixteen thousand trees, sixteen thousand points. That's more than enough to climb out of the negatives, hit one hundred, and earn your divorce."Something shifted behind Vivian's amber eyes. The hostility did not disappear, but it moved sideways, making room for something else. Calculation. Interest. The cold, sharp focus of a woman who had just been shown the fastest road to the only thing she wanted."Every tree earns a point?" Vivian asked, her voice stripped of its usual venom."Every tree." Kyle nodded. "Verified by the terminal. Logged automatically. No arguing, no negotiation, no tricks. You plant, you earn, you leave."Vivian looked at the mountains. Four bare peaks. Sixteen thousand trees. Months of backbreaki

Scarlett stood in the hallway outside Kyle's room with her arms folded and her golden eyes flat, watching him drag his portable tent toward the personal space portal."Who are you sleeping with tonight?" Scarlett asked, her voice carrying the clinical tone of a doctor confirming a prescription."Myself." Kyle slung the tent over his shoulder and kept walking. "Alone. Inside my twelve star personal space where there are no fog corpses, no skin peeling monsters, no women who can dissolve me in my sleep, and no cloud beds that go four meters into the air without warning."Scarlett's eyebrow moved up by a fraction. "You're choosing to sleep alone.""I'm choosing to sleep somewhere that nothing can eat me, trick me, or embarrass me before breakfast." Kyle stepped through the portal and turned back to look at her. "One night of peace, Scarlett. That's all I want. Just me, a tent, and a lake that doesn't have feelings.""The lake doesn't have feelings." Scarlett's golden eyes held his for a

Riley's hand moved. It came up from her side in a smooth, quick swipe, fingers slightly curved, reaching for the feathers with the precise, practiced motion of a cat batting at something shiny.She caught herself one inch short of contact. Her hand froze in midair. Her fingers curled back. Her eyes went wide.Kyle stood there with the wand extended, his face carrying the expression of a man who had just discovered the meaning of life and it was funnier than he ever imagined."Did you just try to swat a cat toy?" Kyle's voice was trembling with the effort of not laughing."No." Riley's face went from pale to bright red in under two seconds, the color climbing from her neck to her ears like a thermometer being dunked in boiling water. "I did not. That did not happen. You saw nothing.""I saw everything." Kyle shook the wand again, gentler this time. "Your hand came up on its own, Riley. Your instincts kicked in before your brain could stop them. You swiped at it. Like a cat. A regular,

"You took her back." Scarface crouched behind him, his breath hot against Kyle's ear. "You walked into my basement with that little cat wife of yours, opened the cage, and let my three million core investment walk out the door. The crowd wanted blood. I gave them an empty cage. The bettors wanted a refund. I gave them excuses. And every excuse cost me money, reputation, and territory that I spent years building.""Sounds like a you problem." Kyle twisted his wrists behind his back, testing the rope. "Maybe don't build your business model on torturing women."Scarface's hand closed around the back of Kyle's neck and squeezed. "Three million cores. That's what you owe me. And since your household finances show a balance of five billion across five black cards, I figured you could afford the interest.""You hacked my terminal?""I have friends in useful places." Scarface released his neck and walked back to the chair. "Here's how this works. You transfer three million cores to my account

The shadow that rushed through the door was not a man. It was Scarlett, her red hair wild, her golden eyes scanning the room in one sharp sweep that took in everything. Kyle on the floor behind the cabinet. The pistol shaking in his hands. Scarface lying face down in a pool of dark blood with a smoking hole through his chest.She was beside him in two steps. Her hands closed around the pistol and gently pushed the barrel toward the floor."It's me." Scarlett's voice was low and steady, the calmest sound Kyle had ever heard. "Lower the weapon. You're safe.""I killed him." Kyle's voice came out cracked and hollow. "Scarlett, I killed him. He came at me with a knife and I held the trigger and I killed him.""I know." Scarlett knelt beside him and took the pistol from his hands. His fingers did not want to let go. She peeled them away one at a time, gentle and patient, like removing thorns from skin. "You did what you had to do.""I've never killed a person before." Kyle's breathing was