“May I ask why you require such extreme privacy, Mr. Soryn,” she asked with professional restraint.
I looked down at my hands, remembering every moment of invisibility that had defined my life.
“Because I want to know whether my family loves me at all, or whether I have only ever been useful when I am invisible or obedient,” I replied without hesitation.
She nodded once and immediately began structuring the trust under the name Meridian Arc Holdings, ensuring every legal pathway pointed away from my identity.
Two weeks later I collected the lottery winnings through a protected entity, and the world believed only that an unnamed resident of Redwood State had become suddenly wealthy beyond comprehension.
I continued working at Asterline Technologies in complete silence, and I did so for a reason that had little to do with necessity and everything to do with observation.