Theron’s words echoed in my mind long after the plates were cleared and our lunch was just a memory. I hated to admit it but he was right.
I’d stepped over a line I swore I’d never even approach. A month ago, the idea of signing that deal would’ve been unthinkable. I was raised to believe rules were sacred, boundaries not to be crossed. And those who did? They deserved to face the consequences.
But the world didn’t work that way.
I’d seen it too many times to count rules bent and broken with ease for the privileged. Wealth, connections, power they were the great erasers of accountability. Meanwhile, people like me… we paid. And sometimes, we paid dearly.
Still, I wasn’t exactly powerless. As a teen, I used to hack for the thrill of it, breaking through firewalls and systems like they w
