And it was better than that.

The moment Julian had forced my front door open, a high-definition camera concealed inside the smoke detector had begun streaming every second of the intrusion to a secure server: Julian’s illegal entry, his shouted demand for the drive backups, his confession that he had seen my audit files, Tessa’s clear command to destroy every device, and the crowbar coming down, over and over, on my property.

I had not just survived their break-in.

I had captured it, whole, in high definition, with confession and motive and identity and violence all recorded in their own voices and faces.