ice'

e a response from Kelvin to my text about Peterson's increased offer, but the screen remained stubbornly bl

I strode past her desk. "Mr. Carlos is already in the confere

weight I didn't like.

me, hands clasped behind him in that way he always stood when he w

id, setting my briefcas

as quiet, controlled. S

een million dollars. Fourteen million." I walked around the table, trying to g

ee the exhaustion around his eyes. "It means forty perce

"Wrong is letting this opportunity slip through our fingers

, Maurice? Corporate espi

gence. The same thing every major

t makes

room. "It makes it business! It makes it reality! When di

table with compromising everyt

s suddenly feeling like strangers. The silence stretched between us, heavy with five years

my stomach clench. "She asked me a question I couldn't answer. She asked me if I could

hank you for the trust fund

ask why their father sold

we're drug dealers or arms smugglers. This is data ma

ir but not sitting. "I spent half the night reading the fine print of what Peterson wants us to build. They want to create psychological profiles of their customers, to ident

provide targe

n his composure. "They want to sell that information to insurance companies who will use it to deny claims, to em

being pa

o they're planning to share this data with. And if you've seen it

a brokers and marketing firms that would ultimately have access to everything we collected. And yes, some of those relationshi

tter terms. Maybe we can put in safeguar

make this right. There are no restrictions that make this ethical.

se. Maybe we need to grow up and accept that bu

es, or soul-crus

u want to know what I really think? I think you're scared. I think you're scared of success, scared of what it means to play

ordinary. I think you're so afraid of not being rich and power

willing to bec

at suppose

software company that makes enough money to get by. It means I want more.

stroys everything that made it w

aybe, just maybe, he was right. But then I thought about the Peterson contract, about the opportunities it would

way from this,

walk away f

oes tha

equal partner in this company. The Peterson contra

ell we'

that both partners don't approve is automatically reject

rate kids working out of a garage.

paused. "I'm calling Peterson in an hour to inform them that TechVision is declining th

willing to do

way forward. Together.

n I had to make. Outside the windows, Manhattan stretched endlessly, a city built on ambition

n. One call. That's all it would take. One call to secure our futu

ecide what I was will

imes before a crisp voice answered.

echVision. I need to speak wi

Mr. James. P

where Kelvin and I had planned our future, at the table where we'd shaken han

was going to make a call th

hich one of us wou