Deeper Than Money Novels & Stories

They were calm and deep, as if they could hold every hidden wave. “The book doesn’t need to be deserved. You only need to want to read it,” he said softly. He placed the paper bag on the shoe cabinet by the door and stepped back. “If you change your mind, I live in the building next door.” He disappeared down the hallway. Yvette closed the door after a while. She leaned against it and breathed deeply. She had expected tears, but her face was dry when she touched it. She wanted to cry, but her eyes felt dry and sore.

The entire courtroom fell into silence. Albert was the first to break it, his voice anxious. "If everything Mr. Grey said is true, then where did my mom's money go? I need it back. I have to get married!" I turned to look at Mom and Andrew as I replied, "You'll have to ask them." Everyone looked confused. No one could believe that the seemingly plain and unassuming mother and son could have taken over a quarter of a million dollars without a shred of conscience.

The gold beneath his feet had solidified into a platform, supporting his weight instead of swallowing it. "Money isn't value! Wealth isn't worth! Being useful—being present—being the guy who solves the problem no one else can solve—THAT'S what matters!" The coins began to shimmer. To dissolve. To reveal something else beneath—a door, plain and wooden, completely out of place in the golden landscape. "Interesting," the voice said, and it sounded almost impressed. "Most subjects drown within the first thirty seconds. You lasted almost three minutes." "I'm an accountant," Ben said, walking toward the door on legs that shouldn't be steady but were. "I'm used to drowning in numbers. Gold is just

“But there’s always something more interesting than money, Austin. You’ll find out soon enough.” There was a pause on the line. It stretched long enough to make my skin crawl. Then, quietly—like a promise: “You can’t buy your way out of everything, Austin. Not this time.” The line went dead.

“I didn’t realize it was doing so well. Maybe we can add to it once I get my inheritance. I’ve been researching a new breed of horseflesh…” “It’s holding its own and we can do whatever you want with it, but I was referring to that money I was trying to tell you about,” he said as he pulled her close. Her soft hair caressed his solid chest as she snuggled close. He kissed the top of her head and whispered, “I’m worth three-million dollars, baby.”

I wanted to see her composure shatter and I wanted her to see the world did revolve around me. “What are the stakes?” I asked, my voice coming out rasp. Alessandro didn’t hesitate. “ A hundred thousand dollars, cold, raw cash. And…” he paused, a smirk playing on his lips, “ My limited edition Ducati, the one I got last summer.” Nathan gasped. “ The Ducati? Bro you’re insane.”

Chapter 1 KYOMI POV The sky had been a blanket of grey when I walked in, angry black clouds pregnant of rain hovering above the sad earth. A tell-tale of the angry splatters that hit the glass windows with sheer brutality. My mind drifted to my run-down cabbie, and I knew for a fact that by the time my shift ended, the front of the car would be so drenched I would have a hard time finding the paddles in the pool of water. I made a quick math in my head: a few dollar bills I'd managed to save plus this month's salary would be enough to run it by the mechanic. That’s if Kaizen wouldn’t run into some sort of shitty problem at his school that demanded me bail his ass out of jail.

Deen explained, bowing slightly at Isabella. Gasps rippled through the room as everyone recalled the rule. Isabella’s face turned red with realization, and I could see the anger boiling within her. I had played her like a finely tuned instrument and the sweet sound of victory was music to my ears. “Come on, don’t look at me that way! It’s just 100 million,” I teased, barely able to suppress my laughter. The manager approached and made the payment, transferring the money to me. I stood up, Blessing trailing behind me and walked over to where Isabella was standing, her expression a mix of disbelief and rage.

The Deep Web was a landscape of "Narrative Poverty." As Silas and Lyra stood on the shore of the liquid-mercury sea, they felt the "System" attempting to "Down-sample" their existence. The gold-and-sapphire light of Silas’s skin and the violet starlight of Lyra’s wings were being compressed, their vibrant colors turning into a grainy, low-fidelity grey. To the Merchant-Beast, they were no longer "Sovereigns"; they were "Excess Assets" to be liquidated.

"He did not have any money, a letter from a woman in France. She was the one who kept the vine cuttings in her cellar while the world was falling apart. People thought he was crazy. They told him the soil was bad that the money was in shipping not in the dirt.. He knew. He knew that money is something we tell ourselves to feel rich. The only real wealth is what you can grow what you can. What you can share with people you love." We sat in silence for a time watching the purple shadows stretch across the valley. The Vane familys money felt like a dream now. It had been a fight between numbers and legacy. I had spent three years in meeting rooms wearing suits that felt like armor talking about