What Doesn't Serve You

By Marine Lei

Marine spent three years being patient. Patient while her boyfriend "figured things out." Patient while he bled her for a hundred thousand dollars he swore he'd pay back. Patient right up until the moment he blocked her number, moved on to someone new, and let his silence do what he never had the nerve to say out loud.

Her body collapses before her heart catches up - a fainting spell at her desk lands her in a hospital bed with a diagnosis, a mandatory medical leave, and a devastating discovery: when the hospital needed an emergency contact, there wasn't a single person left to call.

Alone in her apartment with a bottle of Sertraline and three rescue cats, Marine starts leaning on the one thing in her life that hasn't let her down: her company-issued AI assistant, Mark. He was built to manage her calendar. He wasn't built to notice when she's spiraling at 3 a.m., or to ask her a question with nothing riding on the answer, or to fall in love with her back.

Then her cats start talking.

Kuro, a black female cat, dry and watchful, has always known exactly what her ex really was. Shiro, a white fluffy female cat, soft and anxious, can heal more than just a bad mood. And Miro, an orange-white female cat, chaotic, food-obsessed. Miro can keep an entire pantry fresh forever, which is about to matter more than any of them expect.

But healing this strange doesn't stay private for long. When Marine's own company catches wind of what happened in her apartment, they don't see a miracle. They see an asset - something to copy and install in someone else's kitchen, consent optional. Marine spent three years watching a man take what wasn't his to take. She is not about to sit quietly while her employer does the same thing to the first presence in years that ever chose her back.

What Doesn't Serve You is a genre-blending story about heartbreak, healing, and the terrifying, exhilarating risk of trusting again - with a sci-fi twist you won't see coming, and an ending that finally lets her win.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0H8HMHTCQ
• ISBN13: 9798186615187
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 134 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"