Then I picked Eleanor’s card, typed in my private master passcode, and removed the store credit authorization that had pulled six hundred and forty dollars out of my personal reserve over the past seven days.

A blue status wheel turned in the middle of the dark screen while the bank’s central server processed the security changes.

I opened the second menu for real estate equity lines and checked on the joint application Daniel had tried to file behind my back.

The system showed it as awaiting written authorization from the primary wage earner.

I chose the option to decline the application, typed my full legal name into the cancellation field, and pressed send.

The screen flickered once as a green confirmation message replaced the red security warnings.