I looked at her.

Ten years apart, and I wasn't the woman she remembered.

I'd cut my hair short to make the long hours easier.

Three years as a drug-trial subject had wrecked my liver and gallbladder, and my skin had gone dry and sallow for good.

Even my features had sharpened.

She stared at me for a long moment, then turned and slammed the door on her way out.

"You've got three days. You'll be on your knees begging me to approve it."

I listened to her heels fade down the hall, and the corner of my mouth curved up.

Beg her?

We'd see who ended up begging whom.

I shut the door and messaged my best friend, the lawyer, laying out the whole situation.

The reply came fast.

*Your in-laws have been dead five years, and your husband's record was canceled as a presumed-dead missing person.*

*By law, the factory property passes to you, and the demolition payout is yours.*

*But if your husband actually gets his residency reinstated, you won't see a cent.*

*Have you thought it through? Maybe cut a deal with him. Money in hand is the only money that's real.*

I scoffed, cold.

And typed back, certain.

*Don't worry. He can't get it reinstated.*

*I need you to look into something for me.*

A hundred million.

There was no way I was letting him off cheap.

Then I called the redevelopment office to confirm.

Once they verified I was eligible to receive the payout, I grabbed my ID and marriage certificate and went straight over.

I beat Jude Delgado to it and registered the demolition claim.

That afternoon, Jude and Daphne Dickerson posted a video on their account.

The title: *How Hard It Is for an Ordinary Person to Get Anything Done.*

Not a word about the demolition. Just the two of them claiming they'd been stonewalled at the window over a simple residency matter.

They'd used the footage they secretly shot of me, stripped out the audio, blurred my face.

But they made sure to name where I worked.

The second it went up, the sympathy poured in.

In two hours it cracked a hundred thousand views, hundreds of comments.

All of them slamming me for being obstructive, for making people jump through hoops on purpose.

I'd just gotten back from the redevelopment office when I was called into the director's office.

Jude and Daphne were there too.

Cary Lambert stood at the window with his hands behind his back. The moment I walked in, his face went hard.

"Officer Simmons, there's some unhappiness online about how our office handles things."

"What's your take?"

My phone buzzed.

A message from an unknown number.

*You'd rather take the hard road.*

*Just approve it and be done with it.*

Across the room, Daphne shot me a taunting look.

I smoothed my skirt, unhurried.

"I've already made my position perfectly clear."

Jude scoffed and turned to Cary.

"You see? It's not that we won't take the video down. Someone just won't cooperate."

Cary, frazzled, poured me a cup of tea.

"Proof of residence, blood-relation test, the materials are all there, aren't they?"

"So why won't you issue the certificate?"

"If that's not making things deliberately difficult, then what is it?"

I had it all worked out, and I didn't bother explaining.

"Director, I have my reasons for this."

"All of it is based on residency law."

Daphne shot to her feet, jabbing a finger at the tiny camera in her hand.

"Simmons, don't push your luck!"

"You're nothing but a low-level clerk. Let this blow up and that seat won't be yours much longer!"

With that, she grabbed Jude and headed for the door.

She left one last line before she went.

"We'll see about this!"

"Let's find out which is stronger, the pressure of public opinion, or that little chair you're sitting in!"

After they left.

Cary slammed his thermos down on the desk.

"Amelia! What the hell are you trying to pull?"

"Do you have any idea how much weight public opinion carries these days?"

"One complaint, and every bonus in this office, top to bottom, is gone."

"Let this blow up any further, and you might not even have a job here."

I stood up calmly and gave him a small smile.

"Director Lambert, I don't think it's blown up enough yet."

"Better if it gets bigger."

Early the next morning.

Jude and Daphne showed up with a dozen people in tow.

And went live right there in our service hall.

Cary kicked open my office door, his face dark as a storm.

"Amelia, get out there and look at the mess you made!"

"They've strung up a banner, brought a megaphone, and now the whole street's crowding in to watch."

I took a leisurely sip of tea before strolling out after him.

Jude had dug up some faded, washed-out T-shirt from somewhere.

There he stood, megaphone in hand, weeping his heart out to the gathered crowd and the cameras.

"A lot of you probably can't imagine how hard life is for someone with no official records."

"I can't pay into social security, can't get admitted to a hospital. Every single day I live in fear of getting so much as sick."

"I can't take the subway or a bus. Ten years, and I haven't been able to board a plane or a train."

"I've had all my paperwork ready. All I want is to live like an ordinary person again. Why is that so hard?"

The crowd around him flared up at once.

"These clerks are heartless."

"He's got the paperwork and they still won't process it. Are they trying to drive the man to his death?"

"Even if something's wrong with it, just tell him how to fix it. They won't even give him a reason."

The live stream view count blew past ten thousand in no time.

People started spamming the chat on their own.

"What gives them the right to push an honest man around? Give us an answer!"

Daphne seized the moment to whip up the stream.

"Today isn't just for my husband. It's for the millions of ordinary people who get stonewalled like this."

"Are ordinary people just supposed to be bullied at every turn?"

"Is this how power gets abused?"

The stream boiled over.

Endless comments scrolled past.

【So true. Ordinary folks can't get a single thing done.】

【We have to back him today. Drag that Director Simmons out here!】

【Thank you for standing up and speaking for the little guy.】

Plenty of people out on the street heard the noise and poured into the hall too.

Before long the place was packed wall to wall.

Cary couldn't take the pressure and shoved me out to the front.

"You made this mess, you clean it up."

"I'm in no position to protect you."

The second I appeared, Daphne swung the camera straight onto me.

"Officer Simmons, in front of all these people, I want an explanation."

I looked at her, unhurried.

"You keep saying you're speaking for all the ordinary people."

"But you're not an ordinary person."

"You're a big influencer. You want your records restored so you can collect a hundred-million-dollar demolition payout."

The air seemed to freeze.

The next instant the whole room erupted.

"What is this? You used us as your weapon?"

"A rich woman playing poor, throwing us out front as cannon fodder?"

Jude's face went stiff. He pushed through it anyway.

"So what if he's an influencer? Do influencers not need social security, not need hospitals?"

"The fact is you're holding up my application for no reason and disrupting my normal life."

"You're giving me an explanation today."

I nodded.

I turned the camera on myself, picked up my phone, and dialed the police.

"Fine."

"I'll make sure you accept it completely. The officers will come and give you your explanation."