R

y's precise, methodical style. She always wrote code documentation like she was expla

e our systems. Thirteen different vulnerabilities that shouldn't e

nd of security analysis that companies pay six figures

rank, someone's coming for you. I think they've had quite a lot of time pla

nvolve

s involved now. Kids. Plural. Or maybe she just meant it generally

magnitude of what she just told me. Three major contracts terminate

after EIGHT years of silence. The fact that she's apparently living in Bo

at she ment

Set up meetings, figure out what they're really co

hese are billion-dollar contracts. We need a full

you're the best CTO in the indus

gested we solve our problems with

nal ma

ompany is imploding and you wa

decided anything, jacket in hand. T

here are

lor

What's in

t when I was debugging code. A woman who could solve problems I couldn't even see. A w

someone's coming for me

o might hav

's face. Five years we've worked together,

mpany's implosion isn't random bad luck. But how do you explain eight years of pretending you don't have

l you whe

ra

. They knew exactly how to get to me - through her, through the one

I look tired. I look like a man who's been running from something fo

dial the number Audrey

I haven't heard in eight yea

hing like the soft morning

's

ause.

's testing the weight of it. Like she'

omeone's co

eople in my life who don't deserve

Kids, maybe. The kids sh

, what

ally mapping your business relationships, your security protocols, your dail

ou know a

e after me first.

s and client calls, completely oblivious to the fact

did th

y bank account was frozen for 'suspicious activity.' My inte

erday

d into my daug

e a physical blow. M

daug

n't deserve to spend yesterday afternoon scared becaus

ld. Brilliant

to. Eight years since Audrey

dre

s knows things about both of us that they shouldn'

years old. Brill

her bi

e. "Frank

s her b

fifte

st night we spent together. Nine months after s

king Chris

ra

ing on clothes that don't fit. "Seven years, Audrey. Seven years

thing that matters. Why would y

f it settles deeper. "You've been raising my ch

ed to lie awake listening to you on calls at midnight, making deals that made my stomach turn. When I found out

the decision

cision that wa

us. For her. For my daughter. Fo

me her

sl

ike anything I know. Seven years of her existing

e ask ab

a father. She doesn

n years of birthday parties I never attended. Sev

eone's thre

my car. I'm driv

movie where you show up

hool. Someone scared my ki

elling yourself that because it so

'm not the same person who chose work over ever

. I don't even know if I have it in