One click guarantees a million dollars—and a federal indictment. What would you do?
The blue glow of the dual monitors reflected in Joel Watkins’s glasses as his fingers flew across the keyboard. Cell by cell, formula by formula, the numbers aligned.
“I did it,” Joel whispered, leaning back until his desk chair groaned.
Julie leaned against the doorframe of his home office, folding a fresh dish towel. “Did what?”
“Our financial future is set,” Joel said, turning to face her with a wild grin. “Or it will be the second Kenneth Hanson sees this. Fifty million in phantom depreciation routed through three offshore shells. Hanson promised me a cool million the moment I found the loophole.”
Julie’s smile vanished. She stepped inside, her voice dropping. “Loophole? Joel, what did you actually do?”
“It’s… complex. Highly creative.” Joel’s laugh was thin, catching in his throat. “Technically, it breaks four federal statutes. But Hanson has the political cover to bury the trail. The Feds won’t look twice.”
Julie froze. “You’re talking about fraud. You’re not actually going to send this… are you?”
“It’s one keystroke, Jules! One file upload, and our mortgage is gone. Student loans, gone. We can finally breathe.”
“Or we spend the next decade visiting you through plexiglass,” Julie said, her hand trembling on the edge of the desk. “You send that, and I walk. Choose the ledger, or choose us.”
Joel looked from her tear-rimmed eyes down to the glowing mouse cursor hovering directly over the blue Submit to Hanson button. His phone buzzed with an incoming text from Kenneth Hanson: Do we have the file?
The cursor didn’t move. The clock on the wall kept ticking.
How does Joel’s story end? Does he press send for the million, or delete the file to save his integrity? Tell me how you would finish the final scene.
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