The doorman bowed low and pulled open the car door with practiced deference, his posture radiating the kind of respect reserved for guests who arrived in vehicles worth more than most people's homes.Aaron stepped out in nothing more than a casual shirt and jeans. He looked good, sure, but nothing about his appearance screamed wealth. Still, the doorman didn't so much as blink. In a place like this, the truly rich often dressed like they had nothing to prove.Aaron didn't give it much thought. He told Coldwraith to head back, then walked through the grand entrance of the building and settled into the lobby lounge to wait. The brief moment of the Rolls-Royce pulling up and Aaron stepping out barely registered with the crowd. This part of Seaport City was thick with money, and luxury cars lined the curb like taxis at a train station. One more hardly mattered.But in a shadowed corner across the street, someone with a camera had noticed. The lens swung toward the Rolls-R

Sam believed it. He genuinely believed that the world had gotten this bad.After all, some people would do anything for money. Anything. Morals, decency, basic human shame, all tossed out the window the moment cash was on the line. Those tomb raiders from the night before were living proof. A whole crew of grown adults crawling through dirt and bones for a payday, not a shred of conscience between them."Of course people do insane things for money," Sam said, leaning against the wall of the Police Station lobby. "There are literally tutorials online now. How to stage an accident, how to fake a fall, how to shake someone down for a settlement. It's a whole curriculum."He shook his head, half-amused, half-disgusted."If there's a camera nearby, you're fine. But if there's no footage?" He spread his hands. "You could be the most innocent person on earth and still get buried."Ella Rogers nodded, arms crossed over her uniform. There was resignation in her expre

The chat erupted the instant Sam fished the first dripping notebook out of the backpack."It's homework! He risked his life for their homework!""These kids are on another level of evil.""When I was in school, I never would've thought of something this diabolical.""Look at Sam's face. He's buffering. Completely frozen.""If that were me, my blood pressure would've spiked through the roof.""A salute to our streamer, who dove in to rescue... arithmetic worksheets."Comments kept flooding the screen faster than Sam could process what had just happened. Within those few chaotic minutes, viewership in Sam's Channel surged past fifty thousand and kept climbing, new viewers pouring in like they could smell the secondhand embarrassment from across the internet.Sam stood at the edge of the lake, water still dripping from his clothes into a growing puddle around his sneakers. His jaw was tight enough to crack a walnut. He had hurled himself into tha

The applicants burst into laughter, their voices bouncing off the tiled walls of the Ravenport Aquatic Center lobby.Behind the front desk, Ms. Larson looked up from her stack of resumes. Her gaze landed on Sam, and her brow furrowed. Wet hair plastered to his forehead, clothes dripping onto the polished floor, shoes leaving damp prints with every step."What exactly are you here for?" She let the question hang, then added, "Don't tell me you're interviewing for the lifeguard position."Her tone was razor-sharp, stripped of professional courtesy."That's right," Sam said evenly."You're serious." She let her eyes travel from his soaked sneakers to his dripping collar. "Look at yourself. Clothes soaking wet, no change of outfit. You think this is acceptable? I don't think you're taking this job seriously at all."There was a gleam in her eyes, the satisfaction of someone exercising power over a person who couldn't fight back. In her mind, the candidate D