The next morning at breakfast, David said, “Mia, can you pour the orange juice?”

Mia crossed her arms. “It removes the choice.” The hypnotherapist, a bland woman named Dr. Valli, arrived the following Tuesday. She set up a small metronome and a recording device. “The Family Foundations plan,” she explained, “is our most popular. Three sessions. Basic anchors: homework completion, sibling cooperation, screen time limits. No personality erasure. We’re not monsters.”

Every Sunday at 7:00 PM sharp, the four Sterlings—David, the father and COO of a logistics firm; Elena, the mother and a former project manager; sixteen-year-old Mia; and twelve-year-old Leo—gathered in the living room. On the coffee table sat a three-ring binder titled Family Operations: Q3 . Tonight’s agenda item was “Behavioral Optimization.”

The Sterling family didn’t believe in coincidence. They believed in spreadsheets.

“It’s not weird. It’s neuro-associative reinforcement.” Elena turned the screen around. On it was a sleek, pastel website: HypnosisFamilyPlans™ – Harmony, automated. The tagline read: Why negotiate when you can suggest?

Leo stared at her. “Are you a robot now?”

Mia wiped her face. “How do you know it’s real?”