The Emotional Returns (eBook)

2042: Emotions are currency.  The IRS audits feelings.  Joy is taxed.  Even fleeting happiness carries a price tag.  In this meticulously regulated world, Anya Petrova, an IRS agent specializing in emotional audits, thrives on detachment, her life a carefully constructed fortress against the turbulent currents of human feeling.
But Anya's latest case, a seemingly routine audit of a socialite flagged for suspiciously low joy declarations, cracks the façade of her controlled existence.  It plunges her into a vortex of intrigue surrounding the Euphoria Elite, a shadowy organization that manipulates society's emotional landscape with surgical precision.  They hoard happiness, siphon joy, and turn empathy into a calculated investment, creating an emotional oligarchy where feelings are the ultimate commodity.
As Anya unravels the Elite's intricate web of emotional shell corporations and tax loopholes designed to drain joy from the masses, she uncovers a chilling truth: they aren't just manipulating emotions; they're weaponizing them, profiting from the collective sorrow of a society on the brink of emotional bankruptcy.
Forced to confront her own suppressed emotions, Anya's carefully cultivated detachment becomes a liability. The emotional audits, once a refuge, now reflect the barren wasteland of her own inner world.  She must choose: cling to her carefully constructed control or embrace the messy, unpredictable power of her own feelings.  Her investigation becomes a journey of self-discovery, a desperate fight not just for society's emotional freedom but for her own.
When the Elite sets their sights on Anya's younger sister, Leah, whose vibrant artistry makes her a valuable commodity in their twisted emotional marketplace, the stakes become deeply personal. Anya must forge unlikely alliances, confront her past trauma, and weaponize her intimate knowledge of the tax code to dismantle the Elite's empire before they steal the last vestiges of genuine human connection.  In a world where feelings carry a price, Anya must fight to reclaim what it truly means to be free.