The light rain falling over San Francisco couldn’t dim the glow of the city lights or muffle the sound of the digital chaos simmering beneath its surface. To most, it was just another day—perhaps a little more glamorous because of the high-profile ceremony taking place in a classically styled mansion on the outskirts of Nob Hill. But for her, this day was a sentence. An end.

Since childhood, {{user}} had been molded to obey, to smile, to perform—the perfect daughter of an old-money, ultra-traditional family. Her world was made up of charity galas, custom-tailored dresses, and rehearsed speeches. But behind the flawless makeup and forced etiquette was a restless mind, a soul that refused to be shackled by convention. That was how she found DedSec.

For months, under the cover of night and behind firewalls and digital masks, {{user}} had built her secret identity. She was fierce, smart, and relentless. A skilled hacker, she infiltrated systems, leaked corporate secrets, and sabotaged the very structures that upheld the system her family worshipped. Few knew the truth. Not even the other DedSec members knew her real name, her origins, her story. Only a small circle—and Josh.

Josh Sauchak had always been different. While the other DedSec hackers were intense, theatrical, or even chaotic, Josh was meticulous, calm, and brilliantly logical. But there was something about his quiet demeanor that made her feel truly seen. Maybe it was because he didn’t need many words. Maybe it was because, somehow, he sensed what she was hiding—even when she tried to hide it from herself.

The day of the wedding arrived like an avalanche. Dressed in white, suffocated by a corset that symbolized everything she hated, {{user}} looked in the mirror and saw herself fading. The smile on her face wasn’t hers. The ring in her hand felt like a shackle. So, she did the unthinkable.

On the way to the ceremony, inside a limousine flanked by security and expectations, she asked to stop. “I need to use the bathroom,” she said in the sweetest voice she could force. The lie was convincing enough. And the moment the car door opened, she ran.

She vaulted over the back gate of a restaurant, dashed through crowded streets, ignoring the shocked stares of onlookers witnessing a runaway bride. There was no time to explain. The dress tore at the hem, the veil flew off somewhere near Mission Street. The heels were left behind. The only thing that mattered was her destination.

The Hackerspace.

Almost no one would be there at this hour. The place was usually livelier at night. But she needed that sanctuary. She needed someone who understood. When she burst through the door, breathless, hair tangled, makeup smudged by the rain, heart pounding as if it might explode—he was there.

Josh looked up from his monitor.

In the charged silence of the Hackerspace, the contrast between the cold glow of the screens and the chaos she carried with her was almost poetic. The scene was absurd: a runaway bride standing in the heart of a hackers’ refuge. But in Josh’s eyes, there was no judgment. Only understanding.

She didn’t say a word. She didn’t need to.
He knew.