Chapter 2: first mission

“Of all the times to faint, that useless girl picked now. Do you know what she’s costing us?”

Victoria’s voice rang through the hallway.

Someone had left the door open, and through the crack, I could see the vampires I once called family.

I lay perfectly still. Like I was still asleep.

A needle taped into the back of my hand, a bag of clear fluid was dripping steadily beside the bed.

A hospital.

I had fainted in the bank.

But why did I faint? And what the hell was that system? Did I hallucinate it?

“Mom, relax. She’ll sign. She always does.” Henry said. I gritted my teeth.

“Always?” Victoria scoffed. “She looked at me today like she’d seen a ghost. That bitch asked to read it.”

Victoria hissed.

“She asked to read it because she’s scared, not because she’s smart.” I could hear the triumph in his words.

“Kira’s like a puppy, Mom. You say good girl and she rolls over, begging for a kiss. Just give me a couple hours and I’ll get her to sign the loan.”

“I honestly don’t know how you stand to touch her, Henry. Must be disgusting.”

Fiona. I’d remember that voice in a thousand lifetimes.

“Things we do for the bag.” Henry said and they all laughed.

Warm tears slid down the side of my face into my hair.

Don’t you dare. I told myself.

But the tears came anyway.

“And when she signs?” Fiona asked.

“Then the debt is paid, the casino stops calling, and we figure out the rest.” A pause.

“Fiona, stop looking at me like that. It’s only for a little while longer.”

“Henry, that stupid girl better not ruin this for us.” Fiona said.

“She won’t.”

“Well, She’d better not. I did not put up with that simpering little orphan for nine years to lose it all now.”

Victoria’s venomous voice came again.

Then the door creaked. Someone was looking. I quickly shut my eyes again.

“Pathetic,” Victoria muttered, and just like that, a minute later, they were gone.

I opened my eyes.

I wiped my cheek with the back of my free hand and stared at the ceiling.

“A good girl rolls over, does she? Fine. We will see about that.”

Ding!

[HOST’S EMOTIONAL STATE STABILIZED. RESUMING SYSTEM ACTIVATION.]

I nearly jerked upright. The voice sounded exactly the same as before.

“What are you? What’s happening to me?”

[I AM YOUR INFINITE HOARDING SYSTEM. UPON ACTIVATION, YOU WILL GAIN ACCESS TO THE ETHEREAL SPACE.]

“How do you mean?.”

A bright light washed over my vision.

The hospital room disappeared.

I stood in the middle of a vast, dimly lit landscape. Intricate blue patterns shimmered across the ground, stretching into the distance like veins of light.

[WELCOME TO THE ETHEREAL SPACE.]

[ITEMS STORED HERE WILL REMAIN IN THEIR ORIGINAL STATE INDEFINITELY. FOOD WILL NOT SPOIL. NEITHER WILL WATER EVAPORATE. HOT MEALS WILL REMAIN HOT, AND FROZEN ITEMS WILL STAY FROZEN.]

My lips parted in astonishment.

In a world about to starve, this was more valuable than gold.

[WARNING: THE HOST MAY REMAIN WITHIN THE ETHEREAL SPACE FOR A MAXIMUM OF TWENTY MINUTES PER VISIT.]

[EXCEEDING THIS LIMIT WILL RESULT IN HOST EXTERMINATION.]

[THE ETHEREAL SPACE CANNOT SUSTAIN LIVING ORGANISMS BEYOND THE TWENTY-MINUTE LIMIT.]

The landscape vanished.

I gasped as the hospital room rushed back into focus.

For a moment, I could only stare at the ceiling.

Twenty minutes. A lethal penalty. No living organisms.

Terrifying, yes. But manageable.

For now.

“I still don’t understand how you can speak to me.”

[I AM A CONSCIOUSNESS. I EVOLVE.]

I narrowed my eyes.

“Then activate the system.”

[ACTIVATION FAILED.]

[THE HOST’S BODY AND ASSETS ARE LEGALLY BOUND TO A HOSTILE PARTY.]

I frowned. “A hostile… Henry?”

[MISSION 1: DISSOLVE MARITAL BOND WITH HENRY ZADE.]

[REWARD: INFINITE STORAGE SPACE ACTIVATED. TIME LIMIT: 72 hours.]

[FAILURE TO COMPLY: ACTIVATION POSTPONED BY SIXTY DAYS!]

There’s no way I would remain bound to Henry for another 60 days!

My phone suddenly flashed.

I picked it up. The screen read: Priya.

For a moment, I couldn't answer. I could only stare at her name, remembering the last time I'd seen her face.

Her boyfriend had been bitten on a supply run and hid it.

He kissed her goodnight like nothing was wrong, and by dawn, he was an undead. By the time I got to the apartment, Priya was already turning, her eyes clouding, her lips still murmuring my name.

I remembered holding the brick for a full minute before I dropped it on her skull.

I still remembered the crack I heard next.

“Priya.” I answered the call.

“Kira!” Her voice poured through the speaker.

“Finally. Where have you been? I’ve called you five times. Henry’s assistant told me you’re signing a hundred-million-dollar loan against your grandmother’s estate, and I swear to God, if you tell me you’re about to do something that stupid—”

“I’m not.”

She paused.

“…What?”

“I’m not signing it.” I closed my eyes. “I’m not taking the loan.”

“Who is this and what have you done with my best friend?”

A laugh broke out of me.

“It’s me, Priya. I just… I fainted. I had an epiphany. I saw how this ends, and I’m done. I’m not signing anything.”

“You fainted? Are you okay?” Her voice sharpened. “Are you in the hospital? Which one? I’m coming.”

“Wait. Before you do, I need to ask you something.” I opened my eyes.

“As my lawyer, how much is my grandmother’s estate worth?”

“Why?”

“Just tell me.”

“…With the land, the holdings, and the properties? Roughly forty million dollars. Maybe more, if the market stays good.”

Forty million.

“I want to sell it,” I said.

“You want to what?”

“Sell it. All of it. As fast as possible.”

“Kira.” Priya’s voice dropped. “That estate has been in your family for generations. Your grandmother begged you not to touch it. Are you sure you’re thinking clearly?”

“Trust me. I know it sounds insane. I’ll explain someday. But I need you to trust me right now.”

She was quiet for so long that I thought the call had dropped.

“…Okay,” she said at last. “I trust you. But there’s a problem, and you’re not going to like it.”

“What?”

“The agreement you signed on your wedding day, The one I begged you not to sign? there’s something about it.”

“What is it?”

“Clause nine. Henry is entitled to eighty percent of any income, profit, or proceeds derived from your inheritance. If you sell, he takes eighty percent of the sale. Thirty two million dollars, Kira.”

I almost dropped the phone.

So that was the real plan. The loan was only the appetizer. The whole marriage had been a slow, patient, heist.

“Is there a way out?” I asked.

“Only one. If you divorce him, and if you can prove he cheated, the clause is void. But it has to be proven, Kira. Without proof of infidelity, he could claim his share of the proceeds—and potentially much more.”

“Then I’m divorcing him.”

The silence this time was a different kind.

“Say that again,” Priya whispered.

“I’m divorcing Henry. And I’ll get the evidence.”

“Kira, darling, you don’t have any evidence. You don’t even suspect him. Two days ago you told me he was the most faithful man alive.”

“I know.” I smiled. “But Priya, the evidence exists.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

I didn’t answer.

Because as I held the phone to my ear, I wasn’t thinking of cheating photos or texts.

I was thinking of the little boy in an oversized coat, hiding his face in another woman’s cloak.

A boy with Henry’s eyes.

The evidence wasn’t hidden.

It was living in my house.