Chapter 80: A Friend Indeed.
Darren didn’t say much after the conversation settled because he knew from the get to that Liam had his back.
However, Darren was beginning to realize this was eating away at his mental health slowly and it was only a matter of time before he started to resent everyone around him.
He didn’t need to. The weight that had walked through Liam’s front door with him that morning had shifted — not gone, not resolved, but redistributed in the way that happens when a man realises he isn’t carrying something alone anymore. He sat back against the sofa cushions and his shoulders dropped by a degree that told Liam everything about how long he’d been holding them up.
"I won’t forget this," Darren said quietly. Not dramatically — just a man stating a fact. "Any of it, not just today."
Liam shook his head. "You’ve done more for me than you keep track of."
"That’s different," Darren still tried to downplay it.
"How?" Liam raised a brow.
Darren looked at him. "I never did any of it for something back, dumbass."
"Neither am I." Liam held his gaze. "So we’re even on that note."
Darren opened his mouth, found nothing to put in it, and closed it just as fast. He nodded once — the kind of nod a man who has accepted he had no smart comeback to debunk what was being presented.
Twenty minutes later his eyes closed.
Not gradually — the same way Liam had gone under the night before, sudden and complete, the body collecting a debt that had been accumulating for longer than one sleepless night. His breathing evened out and his head tilted toward the armrest and within five minutes he was entirely gone.
Liam watched him for a moment and sighed, he had no idea what battles he was fighting but he was glad it didn’t need to be a solo battle.
Liam soon picked up his phone.
He opened his banking app and navigated to the transfer screen. He typed in Darren’s account number — he has had it since Darren was old enough to open one.
After all, they were best friends so it would be weird if he didn’t have it.
[$50,000.]
[Confirm transaction to XXX-XXXX-XXXX]
He hit confirm without hesitating.
The screen processed and settled and Liam put the phone face down on the coffee table and looked at his oldest friend asleep on the sofa with bruises on his forearms.
They were self inflicted and Liam never knew him as a person who self-harmed either.
He thought about what the week before the system would have looked like. Twenty thousand dollars to his name. No job. No leverage. A man in the same position Darren was in now, just with a different set of problems and a different timeline before it got critical.
He wouldn’t have been able to do this.
That thought sat with him longer than the others.
He went to the kitchen and made coffee.
-
He was on his second cup when the idea arrived.
"Mateo."
He pulled up his phone and opened a browser, navigating to the electronics retailer he used. He typed in PS5 and let the results load and spent ten minutes going through them with the focused attention of a man doing research rather than shopping.
Mateo had a PS4 Pro. Good machine, a generation behind. The PS5 would be a different experience entirely — faster, cleaner, the library deeper now that it had been out long enough for the catalogue to build.
He added the console to the cart without much thought.
Then he went to games. He knew Uncharted was already in rotation. He picked nine others — a mix, covering different genres, enough to last a serious gamer several months without repetition.
He checked reviews on three of them he wasn’t certain about and made adjustments.
Full controller bundle, extra controller and a headset.
He went to the billing screen and entered Sophia’s name on the delivery details. Her address. The receipt would show her name — she could gift it to Mateo however she wanted, keep the element of surprise, return it if she had reasons he wasn’t aware of. He wanted her to have the choice.
He entered his card details and checked out.
Total: $2,480.
Delivery estimate: same day, within thirty to forty minutes.
He closed the app and finished his coffee.
From the living room he could hear Darren’s breathing — slow and steady, the deep rhythm of someone finally sleeping properly. Liam leaned against the kitchen counter and looked at the ceiling briefly.
Thirty-four minutes later his phone buzzed.
Delivery confirmed.
And then —
[Ding!]
[Transaction Recorded]
[Target: Sophia Reyes (Mid-Tier MILF)]
[Investment: $2,480 (Significant gift directed toward emotional priority — target’s dependent)]
[Base Value: $8,267]
[300% Beginner Bonus Applied]
[Rebate Received: $24,801]
[Cap Reached — Maximum rebate for this target has been applied]
Liam looked at the notification.
Then at the $50,000 transfer confirmation still sitting in his recent transactions.
He did the arithmetic quietly. The PS5 package had returned $24,801 — virtually matching the cost of Darren’s transfer in a single purchase.
The system had recognised the emotional weight of the investment. Sophia’s bond with her brother wasn’t incidental context — it was the core of what he’d bought toward, and the system had priced it accordingly.
He set the phone down.
Outside, Seattle was doing its mid-morning thing — the city’s ambient noise at its background level. Darren was asleep on his sofa. $210,260 minus $50,000, plus $24,801 in fresh rebate.
[$185,061.]
This was his new account total.
However, this was just the beginning of building his wealth and what was money if he couldn’t help his friends when they needed it?
He thought about Mrs. Harriet’s dinner. About the Rolls-Royce Ghost and the jewellery and the financial register she operated in without thinking about it. About what a significant gesture looked like in that world and what the system would return at high-tier multipliers on an investment made at that level.
However, the emotional level was just as important.
The number in his head had a lot of zeros in it.
He poured a third cup of coffee and let Darren sleep.