Page 29 of Matteo

I open the door wider to let him in. “Besides, I won’t take up too much of your time, but it’s been a few days since your interview, Lizzie, and I wanted to check in on you.”

“I’m fine. I’ve been baking.”

“Ah.” He sniffs the air. “No wonder it smells like heaven in here.”

He knows what it means when the scent of muffins, cookies and brownies wafts out of my apartment.

It means that something is up.

I walk into my kitchen. “Sorry, it's a mess,” I tell him, preparing him for the eyesore as boxes of flour and baking utensils are scattered around the countertops.

“Why don’t you sit down, Arthur? I'll make us a cup of tea.” With Irene’s friend over, I figure this is as good a break that Arthur will get.

“That would be wonderful.”

He sits down, and I put an assortment of brownies, cupcakes and cookies on a plate and set it on the small table. Along with two small plates.

Arthur eyes them with delight. “This looks like a feast.”

“Dig in.”

“Thank you. I will, though I'll have to watch my sugar.”

“You will.”

“You spoil me Lizzie.”

“And I love every minute of it.”

He watches me while he eats. I busy myself with preparing tea while clearing away.

“How did it go?” he asks, devouring the brownie first.

“You don't have to eat them all in one go,” I remind him, setting a couple of freshly baked white chocolate and hazelnut cookies on the plate. I tend to overdo it with variety when I'm really stressed.

He reaches for a cookie. “You're a natural baker.”

“Thank you.”

“So. How did it go?” he asks again. No amount of tempting goodies is going to derail him from his mission.

What do I tell him? The job is amazing and it would be great if I got it, but I don't want it anymore?

I get out two cups, and throw in a teabag into each. “I'm not sure I really want it.”

“Why not?” he cries, in exasperation. “That's not what you said before. You told me it was the golden ticket to your problems.”

I groan, wishing I hadn't gushed so much about it. Arthur doesn't know about my hacking past either. It's not something to brag about. But it helped me to move on with my life soon after I left foster care and had to fend for myself.

I started hacking in my late teens. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a challenge when I later met my friend Vlad through an online forum. He was just an online friend at first, but now he’s one of the most important people in my life.

Just like Arthur and Irene are.

In those days, I wanted to know how things worked, how they broke, and whether I could find the cracks before someone else did. Later, with Vlad’s guidance, I was exposing vulnerabilities in systems I had no business being inside. I came close to being caught more than once, which is probably why I'm so determined these days to stay on the right side of the law.

“I might have said that, but sometimes something looks good, but it doesn't end up being as good as it first looked.”

“What didn't look good?”