Those gaps would not have disqualified the company from ordinary commercial work. For a bank, retailer, or software provider, the protections might have been considered excellent.
Cipher Dynamics did not handle ordinary commercial information.
I identified seventeen vulnerabilities that made CloudSync unsuitable for our requirements.
I pressed the intercom.
“Sarah, send him in.”
Derek entered with the confident stride of a man accustomed to closing deals with Fortune 500 companies. He wore a charcoal suit that probably cost several thousand dollars and carried a leather portfolio beneath one arm.
“Mr. Kim, thank you for—”
He stopped.
His gaze dropped to the brass nameplate on my desk.
JORDAN KIM
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Then he looked at my face.
Color drained from his skin.
“You’re Marcus’s brother.”
“I am.”
I gestured toward the chair.
“Please sit. I’ve reviewed your proposal.”
He remained standing.
“Marcus said his brother worked as an administrative coordinator.”
“I did.”
“You were promoted?”
“To CTO. Two years ago.”
Derek gripped the chair back.
“Marcus told me you worked in a cubicle.”
“I have an office.”
“He said your job would embarrass him.”
“He said it would ruin the atmosphere at the party where you were the guest of honor.”
Derek’s face shifted from pale to red.
“Mr. Kim, I didn’t know.”
“Why would you? I’m only the little brother who chose the safe route.”
“I need to sit down.”
He lowered himself into the chair.
I poured water from the glass carafe on my desk and gave him time to regain control.
“Should we discuss the proposal?” I asked.
“Mr. Kim, I’m deeply sorry. Had I known who you were—”
“Derek.”
My voice changed.
It was the tone I used in boardrooms and secure briefings, the one that caused conversations to stop without requiring volume.
“The party does not matter. Your proposal does.”
He straightened.
“Understood.”
“Unfortunately, I identified seventeen critical security weaknesses in CloudSync’s infrastructure design. They make the current proposal unsuitable for classified defense applications.”
His face fell further.
“Seventeen?”
I turned my monitor toward him.
“Your encryption standards are strong for commercial use. We are not a commercial client. Your multifactor authentication is good. Ours must withstand state-level intrusion attempts. Your data segregation is acceptable. We require absolute compartmentalization, which your present architecture cannot provide.”
Derek scanned my notes.
“We can modify the design.”
“You would need to rebuild large portions from the ground up. The additional cost would eliminate your pricing advantage. More importantly, CloudSync currently lacks enough cleared personnel to perform the necessary work.”
He sat back slowly.
“The $127 million contract is gone.”
“I’m afraid so.”
Silence filled the office.
Beyond the windows, sunlight broke briefly through the clouds and flashed against the Potomac.
“Does Marcus know what you actually do?” Derek asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He never asked.”
Derek stared at the table.
“He talks about you sometimes.”
“I’m sure he does.”
“Always with a certain condescension. He says his younger brother is still figuring things out. That some people do well academically but cannot handle the real world.”
“I know what he thinks.”
Derek shifted uncomfortably.
“I need to tell you something.”
I waited.
“Marcus has been positioning himself for the director role. Part of his argument was that he comes from a family of high achievers—that ambition is in his DNA.”
“That sounds like Marcus.”
“He specifically contrasted himself with you. He said having a brother who settled for mediocrity made him more determined to succeed.”
“So he used me as a cautionary tale.”
“Yes.”
Derek looked embarrassed.
“He also said he gives you career advice. He told me he was encouraging you to consider an MBA.”
I almost smiled.
“Jesus,” Derek muttered, lowering his face into his hands. “The way he spoke about you at dinner, at the party, in the office…”
“If you had known I was a senior executive, what would you have done differently?”
“I would have stopped him from publicly dismissing someone who has accomplished more by twenty-five than most people achieve in an entire career.”
I watched him carefully.
“You would have treated me differently.”
“Yes,” he admitted. “And that realization is not flattering.”
For the first time, I felt a trace of sympathy for him. Derek had accepted Marcus’s version of me because it had been presented confidently and repeatedly. He had never been given a reason to question it.
Still, he had participated.
“Here’s what will happen,” I said. “Cipher Dynamics will reject CloudSync’s proposal. That decision is technical, not personal. I’ll provide detailed notes explaining the deficiencies. You may be able to use them to strengthen your architecture for future clients.”
“I understand.”
“As for Marcus, that matter remains between my family and me. What he said at your party is not your responsibility.”
Derek looked relieved, but only briefly.
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