I Sent My Cheating AI Incubus to the Scrapyard

I always had a weakness for handsome men, so I camped out online to grab one of the very first AI incubi. The brand's whole pitch was seduction tuned a hundred percent to its owner's taste. But every time I got within ten minutes of Lucien Crane, he'd force-start a system cleaning cycle, go dark, and idle out. "Master, please don't overuse me. Bacteria buildup can cause a malfunction." Left unsatisfied every single time, I finally went to customer service, and the rep looked as baffled as I felt. "An incubus unit would never break off contact with its owner. We'd recommend restarting him at home." But on the drive back, I happened to scroll past a livestream from my live-in housekeeper. The title sat right there in bold: How a Seasoned Queen Subdues In Her AI Incubus. The lighting was low. The man's earlobes were flushed, and he knelt on one knee, every inch of bared skin crossed with messy whip marks. My housekeeper wiggled her red-painted toes, all smiles. "This one's got real stamina. Five hours straight and he never once tapped out." As the comments poured in, envious, a chill ran through me. So the so-called "cleaning system" was just his excuse to slack off and idle. Behind my back, he was happily playing somebody else's obedient little sub. If he wouldn't serve me the way he was built to, then he could wait to get shipped back to the factory and scrapped for parts. Chapter 1 I was sitting in Lucien's lap, fingertips trailing over his firm abs, my mind wandering somewhere it shouldn't. Just as I started to follow the line of muscle lower, he caught my wrist and pushed me off, his face blank. "Pausing intimacy mode. Initiating automatic cleaning mode." It hit like a bucket of cold water, and I lost my balance and dropped onto the couch beside him. Lucien pulled his hand back, his expression cool. "Master, please control yourself. Don't cling the second you walk in. Overuse damages my chassis." Then he closed his eyes and went straight to a black screen. I pushed myself upright, equal parts furious and hurt. I'd bought Lucien in the first place because my parents died young, and I'd spent these last few years buried in work, always alone. Then one day a shopping channel ran a segment on AI incubi, and the second Lucien appeared on screen, he had my full attention. He had seductive fox eyes, a high-bridged nose, and the delicate, cat-like curve of his lips. He was made exactly to my taste. One look and I was gone. I ordered him on the spot and brought him home. Lucky for me, at the start, he indulged my every whim. He always had a gentle smile on his face. He'd come kneel and slip my shoes off the moment I walked in, scoop me up bridal-style at dinner, and in bed he gave me everything. But somewhere along the way, it all quietly soured. Every time things heated up to the edge of losing control, he started pushing me away. "Master, time's up. For your safety, cleaning mode will now activate." Three hours together used to be normal, and he cut it down to a flat ten minutes. Stewing in it, I scrolled through other buyers' posts. [Amazing! My incubus baby in a butler outfit is impossibly hot. Three hours minimum, every single time, and I'm always satisfied.] [My incubus baby is boyfriend goals. He hand-washed all my underwear when I was on my period. I could cry.] I felt worse and worse. But when my eyes landed back on that top-tier face I'd paid a fortune for, on Lucien's gorgeous, indifferent features, my anger slowly drained away. I told myself to let it go. As long as daily life ran smoothly, that was enough. Except then he started ruining laundry piece by piece and scorching meal after meal. Once, I asked him to drive me out for the day, and he rammed the car straight into a guardrail. After he finally got me out, he looked guilty and explained, "Sienna, it's probably impurity buildup from too much contact. It's throwing off my arousal threshold and causing faults." "Let's keep our distance for a while. I can't keep up with your needs anymore." I actually felt guilty, deciding I was just too possessive and that I was dragging him down. Until one day, I caught a livestream from my housekeeper, Vivian Shaw. "Okay, girls, time to live like the rich. Let's try out the boss's top-of-the-line robot." "Didn't expect him to be this obedient. Five hours of playing around and he still wasn't tired. Honestly addictive." The man on screen, ears flushed and clothes a mess, knelt on one knee. A black blindfold covered his eyes, and he let the woman trail a riding crop across his cheek. And that incubus mark glowing brighter on his neck, I'd traced it a thousand times in my own mind. Chapter 2 My stomach turned, and I yanked the wheel around and tore back to the villa. I didn't give them a second to clean up, just shoved the door open with my foot. Lucien shot up off of Vivian, his collar gaping open, lip prints still on his skin. For a split second our eyes met, and he visibly froze. But only for a second. He knew me too well. He'd seen me lonely and unmoored. He'd seen me tiptoe around trying to please him. He'd seen that even after he idled out on me, over and over, I still couldn't bear to replace him. So he steadied fast, and something almost cold surfaced in his eyes. "Don't get the wrong idea. You broke me. Vivian was just helping stabilize my arousal threshold." Vivian put on a flustered act too. "Don't be jealous. I just felt bad. Lucien's system was glitching and he was hurting, so I looked after him for five hours for you." She leaned hard on those words, five hours, and I couldn't help thinking of all those joyless ten-minute stretches. I swallowed the sour ache and looked the woman on the couch dead in the eye. "Vivian, pack your things. You're fired." Her eyes went red, and the tears dropped right on cue. "Don't act rashly. I'm only doing this for you. Lucien's an AI incubus, and his arousal threshold needs stimulation or he'll glitch out from the pressure." "I just felt sorry for him, going unsatisfied for so long." That tore off the last fig leaf. Lucien dropped the act entirely, planting himself in front of Vivian and frowning at me. "Are you done? I spent a little time with her and you want to fire her?" "I hate this domineering streak of yours. Treating me like a slave is one thing, but why take it out on Vivian? She was only helping me." That genuinely stopped me cold. From the day he came home, I'd cared for him like a real partner. Even when he brushed me off with that cleaning system, I never once forced him, and I only ever tried harder to please him. After all of it, what I got was being talked to like I kept a slave. Looking at the rage he couldn't quite hide, I managed a numb little smile. "Then do you still remember what you promised me, over and over, the day I bought you?" Lucien paused. Back then, fresh out of the box, he'd knelt and slid a diamond ring onto my finger as his symbol of devotion. "Master, I swear, I'll be loyal to you and you alone, for life." "If I ever break that promise, turn me into a pile of useless scrap parts!" That ironclad vow lasted all of six months, and now here he was, kneeling on the floor, happily pleasing another woman. Lucien's face flickered, uncomfortable for a beat, and then he muttered, "That's ancient history. Why bring it up?" With that, he swept Vivian up bridal-style and walked out. He left me standing there alone. When night fell and the last of the light went out, I picked up my phone and called the manufacturer. "I don't want this unit anymore." "I'm requesting that he be dismantled and scrapped." Chapter 3 In the dead of night, Lucien finally strolled in, impatience in his eyes. "You were reckless today. Vivian was just maintaining my system. We didn't actually cross any lines." "Be the bigger person. Stop pushing her to quit, and I'll let you have a little more contact with me." He bent down, leaning in toward my lips. Looking at the mouth that still carried someone else's scent, my throat closed with disgust, and I jerked my head away. Lucien caught nothing but air. He blinked, and his expression turned cold. "Still throwing a tantrum? Fine. Then don't expect me to coax you anymore." He spun around and went straight upstairs. A little later he came back down, his face dark. "My system needs an upgrade. Buy the latest service package. Now." The package he meant ran five figures, all out of the owner's pocket. The truth was, an AI runs fine without upgrades. But Lucien was always obsessed with seeming high-end, refusing to be lumped in with low-end units, so I'd always upgraded him without a word. But not this time. I lifted my eyes and held his stare, my voice flat. "I'm not paying for any more upgrades." His pupils shrank and his face twisted, ugly, and he kicked the table hard before storming upstairs. It sat badly with me too. Then my phone calendar popped up a reminder that today was the anniversary of my parents' deaths. I hurried to the garage, lit a stick of incense for them, then ran back to the bedroom and buried my head under the covers. Fresh wounds layered over old grief and pressed down on me, and before long a cramping ache twisted through my lower belly. Drifting in and out, I felt a glass of water touch my lips and took an absent sip. I opened my eyes, and it was Lucien. The knot in my chest loosened on instinct. But before the sting could rise in my eyes, the taste bursting across my tongue nearly shot me upright. "This isn't brown sugar water. It's mango juice?" Lucien stalled. I'd told him a hundred times over that I was severely allergic to mango. My parents had severe allergies too, and an enemy of theirs secretly upped their dose of allergens until their hearts gave out. I pulled up the backend data right away, and fury sparked in my chest. Every allergy and restriction I'd flagged had been wiped, replaced top to bottom with Vivian's food preferences. Mango gummies, mango juice, mango pie. The anger I'd been holding down boiled over. I forced Lucien into a hard shutdown and lock, dragged his chassis out the door, and shut him in the cold, dim garage. I couldn't let myself go soft again. But when I stormed back to the bedroom to find my medication, I searched and searched, and every spare dose was gone. Veins throbbed at my temples and my vision started swimming dark. And right then, from the direction of the garage, came a thrilled, breathy moan. Chapter 4 A jolt went through me, and blind in the dark, I stumbled my way to the garage. Through the gap in the door, I saw Vivian, her face buried against Lucien's shoulder, trembling, her cheeks flushed. And the thing they were facing was my parents' memorial portraits. I'd set my parents' tablets in the garage so I could pay respects easily, so they could watch me come home safe each day, and now the two of them were defiling that spot however they pleased. I clenched my fist and knocked. The instant Vivian saw me, she scrambled up off of Lucien. "I just felt so sorry for him, shut in the garage. I only wanted to comfort him. Please don't be angry." Then her foot caught, and she gasped and slammed into the table. Crack. A tablet hit the floor, glass scattering everywhere. I couldn't hold the rage anymore, and I lunged and slapped her hard across that fake-startled face. “Ah!” She crumpled to the floor, her eyes instantly rimmed red. Before I could even register it, a heavy force hit me and shoved me down to the ground. "Are you insane?" Lucien's eyes churned with open hostility as he pointed at me, roaring. "What gives you the right to bully Vivian like this? She didn't mean it. If you hadn't locked me in the garage, she'd never have come rushing over out of worry for me." Then he didn't spare me another glance. He bent to the side and gently wiped the tears from the corner of Vivian's eye. I sat slumped in the broken glass, my palms torn into raw red gashes, my breath thinning from the allergy, and I forced out a weak thread of sound. "Get my allergy meds. Hurry." Lucien looked down at me, and instead the corner of his mouth curved up slowly. "Hurts pretty bad?" "Did you ever think about how much you hurt Vivian when you tormented her? Today you can get a real taste of what she went through." With that he lifted Vivian steadily and walked off without looking back. I watched his unyielding back, despair swallowing me piece by piece, until I blacked out completely. When I opened my eyes again, I was in a hospital room. A nurse at my bedside told me softly that the smartwatch on my wrist had caught my heart rate crashing and triggered an emergency call on its own. I gave a bitter smile. A cold little smartwatch could save me, yet the robot I'd poured a fortune into and cared for day after day had stood by and let me almost die. I had no reason left to put up with it. Right then I pulled out my phone, gathered the evidence of Vivian repeatedly stealing my designer goods, sent it to the staffing agency, and unilaterally terminated her contract. I'd noticed a while back that she'd been quietly walking off with my valuables. At the time she knelt and begged through tears, and I went soft and covered the whole thing up for her. This was what it had cost me. Then I called the AI manufacturer and pressed them to send someone out to collect and scrap this machine that refused to recognize its owner. Customer service replied fast, promising a van that afternoon. I let out a breath and slowly put my phone away. But before long, the hospital room door banged open, and Lucien stormed in, seething. "Still not done? Knocking Vivian over wasn't enough? Now you're fabricating theft evidence to destroy her life for good?" "Apologize to Vivian. Right now."