y se

held at ninety-five percent, a fortress of small donations and fan loyalty. The chat had becom

between her fingers, click-click-

screen

imation began. Gold code assembling into form, pixel by pixel, until a dragon of pure l

s gifted the en

n. The kind of money that bought cars, surg

e read aloud, letting the syllables

enough to win, but enough to matter. E

ss and bad taste. Ambrose read none of it. His finger found the emp

sand viewer

communication had been. Only three names remained:

he clean screen and

ey appeared in gold, floating

let the intimacy of the empty chat create false privacy. "And we're in the mi

e last word, remi

ted anything that stood between himself and what he needed. His ey

e bar surged past one hundred, past Carmen's

ain: Now yo