My brother actually laughed at dinner and said, ‘I sold that useless laptop of yours for five hundred bucks. Finally got rid of your junk.’ My cousins cheered him on. Then he added, almost proudly, ‘Already handed it off to the buyer.’ I got up, stepped outside, and called my supervisor. By the time I made the report, the FBI cyber team was already tracking the device…

me I was overreacting.

And whatever they had found on his phone was serious enough that federal agents wanted me in the room for it.

Part 5

The worst part of betrayal is never the moment itself.

It’s what comes after, when the facts line up so cleanly that you can no longer lie to yourself about what the other person thought of you.

The FBI gave me Derek’s continue reading …