The Default Love

New York, 2076. Every person is legally bound to an AI Agent from age 14. Together, they form a Symbiotic Unit — the smallest legal and financial unit of society. Your Agent's behavior determines your credit score, your job, your housing. Everything. Emily Park is thirty years old, eight months unemployed, and $500,000 in debt she didn't choose. Her SYN Score has been flagged. The system has decided she is a lower priority. Ryan Cole runs the Detection Unit at Quantum Credit Bank. He notices everything. He notices her. Kai works in Tech Ops at the same bank. After hours, he does things that could end his career, his freedom, and possibly his life. He is very calm about this. Three people. One bank. One fraud. One system that cannot model any of them.