Vengeance and the Penniless Puppet
By @john1208
Kirit Shen's ordinary morning immediately goes wrong when a burnt espresso and a pounding hangover remind her of last night's mistake: a drunken sign-up on a sketchy underground dating app. Needing a disposable husband to bypass a hostile syndicate blockade and exact cold, calculated revenge on the elites who ruined her, Kirit attends the blind date. She meets Jago Fenn, a disheveled man nursing a free glass of tap water. Her pride demanding control, she pays the bill, assuming he is entirely broke. Thus begins a bizarre partnership. Jago eagerly plays the doting husband, moving Kirit into a sprawling cliffside mansion he casually dismisses as an 'unbooked Airbnb.' Told through alternating third-person perspectives, the story is utterly devoid of romance; it is a cutthroat chess match. Kirit ruthlessly plots her enemies' downfall, while Jago - secretly a bored billionaire - hilariously scrambles to hide his vast wealth while anonymously bankrolling her vendetta. But when Jago’s 'buddy' calls on speakerphone to confirm the delivery of a sports car and addresses him as 'Boss,' the facade shatters. Kirit realizes she misunderstood the rules all along: the app wasn't a matchmaking service, but a shadow-economy assassination roulette. Who is the real target?
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