I kept my expression carefully neutral even as I felt Carmen's chest press more firmly against my arm when she leaned forward to move our piece, her body heat soaking through the fabric of my shirt. The soft weight of her was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, especially with her breath on my neck and her fingers idly playing with the hem of my sleeve.

"I think we landed on Chance, not Park Place, Sensei," I said, my voice admirably steady.

"Chance is good too," she mumbled, her finger still wavering somewhere in the general vicinity of the board. "Chance... gave me you puppies. Best class ever." Her arm tightened around me in what might have been a hug or might have just been her losing her balance. "Love my puppies."

Across the table, Natalia's gaze locked onto the scene with the focused intensity of a heat-seeking missile acquiring its target. The temperature around her dropped perceptibly, enough that I could see my breath for a moment. A plastic house skittered across the board without anyone touching it, propelled by an invisible force. Jacob's datapad screen flickered ominously, the display glitching with interference.

Her purple eyes were absolutely glacial, fixed on where Carmen was draped across me like a possessive blanket. If looks could kill, I'd have been a smoking crater. If looks could freeze, I'd have been a popsicle.

I met her stare evenly, raising one eyebrow in the barest suggestion of a challenge. Jealous? my expression asked.

Her jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.

I gently removed Carmen's wandering hand from the board before she could accidentally buy something catastrophically stupid, carefully placing it back in her own lap instead of wrapped around me. "I got it, Sensei. You just provide the moral support."

"Mmm, supporting," she agreed, the word slurring into something that might have been several different words. She settled back against me with a contented sigh that was almost a purr, apparently satisfied with her role as dead weight, and promptly began to snore softly—delicate little sounds that were actually kind of endearing.

The game intensified as property started changing hands through increasingly aggressive negotiations and outright threats. Alliances formed and shattered within minutes. Promises were made and broken. Several people accused others of cheating with absolutely no evidence.

Natalia's team had secured both Boardwalk and Park Place through a combination of ruthless negotiation and Jacob's statistical analysis, forming a dark blue economic guillotine poised above all our financial necks. They needed only one more blue property to complete the set and begin building their instruments of torture—hotels that would bankrupt anyone unlucky enough to land there.

Akari leaned toward Isabelle's team with a smile that dripped honey poisoned with arsenic. She tilted her head, her green eyes wide and innocent in a way that fooled absolutely no one. "Izzy-chan, you don't really need all those yellow properties, do you? I mean, what's three properties when you could have... security?" Her smile widened. "What if I gave you... immunity the next time you land on our spaces? Complete protection. No rent owed."

Isabelle didn't even look up from her meticulous organization of their property cards, each one aligned perfectly with the others. Her expression didn't shift by even a millimeter.

"A temporary reprieve from financial consequence holds no tangible value in a long-term economic strategy," she said with the kind of absolute certainty usually reserved for natural laws. "The price for Connecticut Avenue is both of your Railroads and $200 in liquid capital. Non-negotiable."

Akari's smile didn't falter, but her eyes narrowed fractionally—a tiny crack in the charming mask. "My, my. The Queen drives a hard bargain."

"Former Queen," Isabelle corrected with the smoothness of someone who'd made this correction many times before. "And yes. I do."

Skylar snorted from behind her cards, not even trying to hide her amusement. "Told you she'd say no. Isabelle doesn't do charity."

"It was worth trying," Akari replied, leaning back with a shrug that somehow still looked graceful.

Meanwhile, Team Disaster was imploding right on schedule, their dysfunction reaching new and impressive heights.

Raphael landed on one of Hikari's properties, now sporting two cheerfully bright houses that looked innocent but cost a fortune.

"$300? That's robbery!" Raphael growled, his voice rising as he counted his dwindling cash with increasingly violent movements. Sparks literally started crackling around his fingertips. "That's highway robbery! This is a scam!"

"It's capitalism," Emi corrected gently, though her expression suggested she was also finding the situation frustrating. "And also the rules. Those houses were expensive to build, so the rent is proportionally—"

"I don't care about proportional anything!" Raphael interrupted, slamming his money down with enough force to scatter several nearby cards.

"VICTORY!" Hikari shouted from across the table, pumping her fist in triumph with enough enthusiasm to create a small breeze. "FINANCIAL DESTRUCTION! YOUR MONEY IS NOW MY MONEY!"

"It's just $300," Marco said soothingly, his deep voice trying to inject some calm into the situation. He placed a gentle hand on Raphael's shoulder. "We still have resources. We still have—"

"Nothing!" Raphael interrupted, whirling on him with wild eyes. "We're broke! Finished! We can't afford that Railroad now! Our entire strategy is ruined!"

He glared at Emi as if she had personally arranged this catastrophic misfortune, as if she'd made the dice land where they did through sheer force of will just to spite him.

She wilted slightly under his accusatory stare, her shoulders hunching. "I... I'm sorry? I didn't mean for you to land there..."

"Of course you didn't," Raphael snapped. "Because you never mean for anything to happen! You just let things happen and then apologize afterward!"

Marco opened his mouth, probably to mediate, but I saw my opening and took it.

"Akari," I called across the board, my voice casual, almost lazy. "I'll trade you St. James Place."

The conversation around the table died instantly, as if someone had reached over and turned down the volume on reality. Everyone turned to look at me with varying expressions of shock, confusion, and dawning horror.

St. James Place was the final orange property Natalia's team needed to complete their set. With hotels on the oranges, those properties would transform from mere inconveniences into devastating financial weapons capable of bankrupting someone in a single unlucky roll. They'd be the most dangerous properties on the board.

Akari's eyes lit up with immediate interest, sparkling like she'd just been offered her favorite toy. "Oh? And what does the King want in return for such... generosity?"

The way she said "generosity" made it clear she knew this was anything but.

"Your Get Out of Jail Free card, Park Place" I replied, watching her expression carefully. Then, after a pause where I let the tension build:

"And you have to answer one question. Honestly."

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