The Heir’s Awakening System

The Bonus

Jerome's fingers hovered over the keyboard, the $200,000 transfer glowing green on his screen like a promise he was afraid to break. The DMV office was empty now—lunch rush over, the fluorescent lights humming their usual tune of exhaustion—but his hands shook as if he were defusing a bomb. Marcus stood at the counter, Claire asleep in the carrier, her breath a steady metronome against his chest. The System flickered in his peripheral vision, a weak pulse of gold: [TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION: PENDING—JEROME P. HARRISON—$200,000.00].

"Just hit enter," Marcus said, his voice low, steady, the kind of tone that had once asked for extra napkins and now asked for life-changing money. "It's yours. Taxed. Legal. No strings."

Jerome's throat worked, his eyes darting to the security camera in the corner, to the empty seats, to the old woman who'd recorded everything on her phone and was now texting furiously. "What if they audit me? What if they think I'm—"

"Corrupt?" Marcus finished, and he smil