Two Years Later - Isabella Age 18
The college acceptance letters were all spread across the dining room table like deck of cards. Harvard, Yale, Princeton. Stanford. and Columbia.
Every single one offering full scholarships.
Isabella stared at them, coffee growing cold in her hand.
"You haven't opened the last one," Sienna said, gesturing to a plain envelope with Archon Strategic Consulting's embossed logo.
Isabella had been purposely avoiding that particular one.
Two years ago, she'd sent that text message. Had met with Mrs Strand three more times over the following months. Had been evaluated, tested, offered a position in their training program starting at eighteen.
She'd kept it secret from her parents for six months before guilt became very unbearable.
The confession had been so brutal. Her father's anger, her mother's fear, the hours of discussion about choices and consequences and the weight of the family's legacy.
But in the end, they'd done something unexpected.
