They both wore expensive clothes better suited to a formal club dinner than a family holiday. Vanessa carried a bottle of French wine and kept checking how the living room decorations appeared in photographs.
Mom hugged me in the entryway.
“I’m so glad you understood about New Year’s,” she whispered.
“Marcus explained.”
“He did. Derek is very important to his career, and corporate people judge others by association. Having someone there who only does basic administrative work might create the wrong impression.”
“I understand.”
Dad joined us with a glass of bourbon.
“Maybe next year you’ll have something more exciting to discuss,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Have you thought about earning an MBA? Marcus might have connections to a decent program.”
Marcus’s connections.
I held three graduate-level credentials my family knew nothing about. MIT had offered me a funded doctoral position, but I had declined because Cipher Dynamics needed my work immediately.
“I’ll think about it,” I said.
Dinner became the Marcus show.
He described the Sterling penthouse in detail. It cost $8,500 for one night, a figure he repeated twice.
The private chef cost another $3,000.
Vanessa had hired a photographer because, as she explained, “Personal branding matters at our level.”
Derek’s name came up at least eight times.
Derek believed Marcus had leadership potential.
Derek might give Marcus oversight of a new division.
Derek admired Marcus’s ability to build client trust.
Derek was bringing his wife.
Derek knew investors.
Derek summered in the Hamptons.
I ate turkey and nodded at the appropriate moments.
After dinner, Marcus pulled me aside near the kitchen.
“You’re genuinely fine with skipping New Year’s?”
“Absolutely.”
“Because I can feel you being strange about it.”
“I’m not being strange. I hope you have a successful party.”
He studied my expression.
“You know your problem?”
“I assume you’re about to tell me.”
“You never pushed yourself.”
I waited.
“You chose the safe route,” he continued. “Government job, steady paycheck, no risk, no ambition. Look at me. I networked. I competed. I climbed the ladder. That’s the difference between us.”
I could have told him Cipher Dynamics held $2.8 billion in active contracts.
I could have explained that my current project involved designing communication architecture for a classified satellite network.
I could have told him that the equity scheduled to vest the following quarter was worth approximately twelve million dollars.
Instead, I said, “You’re probably right.”
Marcus smiled with satisfaction.
“I’m only saying this because I care. Maybe the new year is when you finally push yourself.”
On December 31, Marcus hosted his party at the Sterling.
I worked.
Our Singapore office needed authorization for protocol changes. A scheduling issue had emerged involving an Australian defense communications contract. I also needed to prepare for our January 3 quarterly board meeting.
Yes, a board meeting.
Two years earlier, Cipher Dynamics had promoted me to chief technology officer.
At twenty-three, I became the youngest C-suite executive in our sector. My salary increased to $480,000 base, and my total annual compensation—including equity and performance awards—averaged approximately $2.1 million.
I also joined the board of directors.
Not as an observer.
As a voting member with an equity stake.
I never told my family.
Security restrictions explained part of my silence. Most of my work could not be discussed outside controlled environments.
The rest was an experiment.
How long could people who claimed to love me remain completely incurious about my life?
Three years.
The answer was three years.
At 11:47 p.m., my phone buzzed.
Marcus had sent a message from the party.
Happy almost New Year, bro. Sorry you couldn’t make it. Derek just said I’m definitely getting director. Best night ever.
I responded:
Congratulations. Well deserved.
At midnight, I poured a small glass of champagne, toasted beside my cat, reviewed the Malaysian contract once more, and went to bed.
On January 2, Sarah knocked on my office door.
“Your two o’clock appointment arrived early.”
I looked up from a restricted technical brief.
“Who is it?”
“Derek Chin from CloudSync Solutions.”
The name took a second to register.
“Marcus’s boss?”
“Yes. He seemed nervous after seeing the board agenda and realizing you’re the CTO evaluating his presentation.”
“Give me five minutes. Offer him coffee.”
I opened CloudSync’s file.
The company was proposing to become our primary cloud-infrastructure vendor. The contract would run three years and was valued at $127 million.
Derek had scheduled the meeting six weeks before the New Year’s party.
His presentation was impressive. The technical specifications were polished, the pricing competitive, and the implementation timeline ambitious but plausible.
However, I had also examined CloudSync’s security architecture.
It contained gaps.
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