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Rising From Wreckage: Starfall's Epic Comeback
img img Rising From Wreckage: Starfall's Epic Comeback img Chapter 4 4
4 Chapters
Chapter 8 8 img
Chapter 9 9 img
Chapter 10 10 img
Chapter 11 11 img
Chapter 12 12 img
Chapter 13 13 img
Chapter 14 14 img
Chapter 15 15 img
Chapter 16 16 img
Chapter 17 17 img
Chapter 18 18 img
Chapter 19 19 img
Chapter 20 20 img
Chapter 21 21 img
Chapter 22 22 img
Chapter 23 23 img
Chapter 24 24 img
Chapter 25 25 img
Chapter 26 26 img
Chapter 27 27 img
Chapter 28 28 img
Chapter 29 29 img
Chapter 30 30 img
Chapter 31 31 img
Chapter 32 32 img
Chapter 33 33 img
Chapter 34 34 img
Chapter 35 35 img
Chapter 36 36 img
Chapter 37 37 img
Chapter 38 38 img
Chapter 39 39 img
Chapter 40 40 img
Chapter 41 41 img
Chapter 42 42 img
Chapter 43 43 img
Chapter 44 44 img
Chapter 45 45 img
Chapter 46 46 img
Chapter 47 47 img
Chapter 48 48 img
Chapter 49 49 img
Chapter 50 50 img
Chapter 51 51 img
Chapter 52 52 img
Chapter 53 53 img
Chapter 54 54 img
Chapter 55 55 img
Chapter 56 56 img
Chapter 57 57 img
Chapter 58 58 img
Chapter 59 59 img
Chapter 60 60 img
Chapter 61 61 img
Chapter 62 62 img
Chapter 63 63 img
Chapter 64 64 img
Chapter 65 65 img
Chapter 66 66 img
Chapter 67 67 img
Chapter 68 68 img
Chapter 69 69 img
Chapter 70 70 img
Chapter 71 71 img
Chapter 72 72 img
Chapter 73 73 img
Chapter 74 74 img
Chapter 75 75 img
Chapter 76 76 img
Chapter 77 77 img
Chapter 78 78 img
Chapter 79 79 img
Chapter 80 80 img
Chapter 81 81 img
Chapter 82 82 img
Chapter 83 83 img
Chapter 84 84 img
Chapter 85 85 img
Chapter 86 86 img
Chapter 87 87 img
Chapter 88 88 img
Chapter 89 89 img
Chapter 90 90 img
Chapter 91 91 img
Chapter 92 92 img
Chapter 93 93 img
Chapter 94 94 img
Chapter 95 95 img
Chapter 96 96 img
Chapter 97 97 img
Chapter 98 98 img
Chapter 99 99 img
Chapter 100 100 img
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Chapter 4 4

Manhattan at noon was a beast of noise and concrete.

Analia dragged her suitcase down 5th Avenue. The adrenaline from the confrontation was fading, replaced by a dull, aching exhaustion. Her head throbbed beneath the bandage.

Her stomach growled, a loud, undignified reminder that she hadn't eaten since yesterday's lunch.

She spotted a deli on the corner. Just a regular, nondescript place with sandwiches in the window. She went inside, the smell of curing meat and vinegar making her mouth water.

She ordered a turkey sub and a bottle of water.

"That'll be $14.50," the guy behind the counter said, not looking up from his phone.

Analia pulled out her black Amex. The heavy titanium card that used to open every door in the city.

She tapped it.

BEEP.

"Declined," the guy said, popping his gum.

Analia frowned. "Try it again. It's probably the chip."

He swiped it this time.

BEEP.

"Declined, lady. Do you have another one?"

Analia's face burned. She felt the eyes of the people in line behind her-impatience, judgment. She dug through her wallet. The Visa. The Mastercard.

BEEP. BEEP.

"Look, if you can't pay, move aside," the guy said, annoyed now.

Analia's hands were shaking. She opened the small zipper pocket of her purse where she kept loose change. She counted three crumpled dollar bills and a handful of quarters.

"I... I'll just take the water," she whispered.

She put the cash on the counter. It was humiliating. It was the kind of small, petty cruelty that hurt more than the shouting.

She walked out with just the water bottle, her stomach cramping with hunger.

Her phone buzzed. A notification from the bank app.

ALERT: Supplementary Card Ending in 8890 has been suspended by the Primary Account Holder.

Followed by a voice message.

She played it, holding the phone to her ear as traffic roared by.

Clive's voice was calm, almost bored. "Hungry yet? Come home, apologize, and I'll unlock them. Don't be stubborn, Analia. It doesn't suit you."

Analia deleted the message.

She opened a different app on her phone. One hidden in a folder labeled "Utilities." It required a retinal scan and a thumbprint.

The app opened. Cayman Islands Offshore Banking.

Account Name: Lyra LLC.

Balance: $1,450,000.00.

She wasn't broke. She was rich. She had saved every penny from her voice acting royalties before the marriage, and the residuals that had trickled in secretly over the last four years.

But she couldn't touch it.

Not yet. If she transferred money now, Clive's forensic accountants would see it in the divorce discovery. They would claim it was marital assets. They would freeze this too.

She had to be poor. For a little while longer.

A horn honked. Zoe's Ford Fiesta pulled up to the curb, double-parked illegally.

"Get in, loser!" Zoe yelled out the window, grinning. "We're going shopping. By shopping, I mean we're going to eat my leftovers."

Analia got in. As she buckled her seatbelt, she let out a laugh. It was a jagged, rusty sound, but it was real.

"He froze the cards," Analia said.

"Of course he did," Zoe merged into traffic, cutting off a taxi. "Micro-penis energy."

"Zoe!" Analia giggled. "He doesn't have a micro-penis."

"Well, his soul does," Zoe declared.

They drove past the Apex Media tower. It was a glass monolith piercing the sky. A massive digital billboard wrapped around the building, advertising the upcoming epic, The Pantheon Saga.

Angelena Stuart's face wasn't on the poster yet, but her name was rumored in every blog.

Analia stared at the building. Her eyes narrowed. The sadness in her chest began to harden into something colder, something useful. Ambition.

"Zoe," she said. "Does your closet still have that soundproofing foam we put up?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because Starfall is coming out of retirement," Analia said. "And I'm going to take that role from her."

Zoe glanced at her, eyes wide. "The Pantheon Saga? But everyone says Angelena is a lock."

"She's a lock because of politics," Analia said, watching the tower disappear in the rearview mirror. "I'm going to beat her with talent. Clive thinks I'm starving? Good. I act better when I'm hungry."

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