The internet would not decide this.

A judge would, and a compliance panel would, reading quiet documents in quiet rooms, and none of them cared how many aunts had called me a schemer online.

My whole life had taught me that real power is unbothered by an audience.

It was almost restful, in the end, watching the Ainsworths spend their fury on a comment section while the actual case assembled itself in silence somewhere they couldn’t see.

Chapter 10 — The Break-In

Late Wednesday a call came from a blocked number.