in's

rom the adrenaline of knowing that in the next five minutes, I was either

roup, this

ion. I need to speak with Harold Peterson imm

Mr. Peterson is expectin

ike ants, each one carrying their own dreams and compromises, their own moral calculations. How

siasm and barely contained greed. "I trust you've had time to consider our e

alling to inform you that TechVision will

was so complete I wonder

d you say you'

we've determined that your project doesn't a

"Kelvin, we're talking about fourteen million dollars. W

at let me sl

, we can work around those. We can implement additional pri

ject acceptable to us. We're not interested in building s

ramatic, don't you think? This is m

anger building. "You want to create psychological profiles of vulnerable people so you can manipulate them more effectively. You want to sell

th. "You're making a very expensive mistake. Do you have any idea how many doors this con

portunities to become som

somebody important in this industry. You're

elevant tha

me tell you something, Carlos. Every major tech company in America is doing exactly what we're proposing. Facebook, Google, Amazon-they're all collect

ne else is doing it d

yees' futures on some naive idealism. How many people work for TechVision, Kelvin? Twenty? Thirty? How are you going to look th

loyees, people who depended on us, who had families to support. Was I being selfish i

decision is final. TechVision will not be develo

? I've been dealing with him primarily on this contract. Ar

al partners in this company, we both have veto po

ice agree

be informed of

ting. You know, Kelvin, I've been in business for thirty years, and I've seen a lot of partnerships di

s stronger than a

ng, it looks like you're about to fi

dread settling in my chest. Peterson was right about one thing-I was

y, but Maurice was there, sitting at the head of the table with

m," he said wit

lled

-million-dollar contract

wer as outlined in our

something cold and calculating in his eyes. "The one we wrote

new exactly what kind of bu

ecause I'm starting to think we had very diff

en us with every word. "Maurice, we started this company to help people. To make their li

ccessful matters? You don't t

s compromising every

t words in my mouth, Kelvin. Don't a

th what Peterson w

owing this company. I'm okay with not limitin

ing able to look at m

ks like you're okay with sabotaging everything w

aurice. I'm afraid of becomin

ccess requires change. Maybe you need to recognize that we can

y the same people? Why can

Because principles don't build empires. B

romising

metimes

fting between us. This wasn't just about a contract anymore. This was about wh

appens now

his partnership can sur

f it c

re out how to

shared dreams, of building something together from nothing. And it might all come down to

't come to that,

lling to let your consci

to let your ambition

e, his expression businesslike and dis

e foundation of everything we'd built together. And I knew