Benny’s plan was, even by Arly’s standards, fairly crazy. The sheer amount of attention their actions would bring was hard for them to justify. However, as Benny continued to argue with them, they were already caught. His father knew exactly what was going on, which meant that it wouldn’t be long before they were dealing with the police trying to arrest them. Really, when he explained it in that way, they really didn’t have much reason to be subtle. Besides, Arly did like a convoluted plan in several steps.

Arly and Kyran did everything they could to seal the heavy backpacks they’d brought with them before closing the safe. She made sure nothing had been left behind for the guards or police to find before ushering Kyran out the door. They needed to get back to the conference room immediately, before the guards made it up to their floor. She wished she’d remembered to take her phone out of her purse so Tom could keep them updated on the positions of the guards, but it was too late for her to worry about those things.

Arly didn’t know when she started to realize that. If they succeeded, their lives would be forever changed. Benedict Johnson would never let whoever stole from him get away with it. She firmly believed that he would come after them and waste no resource he had to figure out who it was that dared to steal from him.

Everything was going well. They made it inside. Tom disarmed the security system. The lock to the safe was easy to bypass. Arly couldn’t believe their luck. This plan of theirs was going to work. They were going to use the money to do some good. They were–...

Tom’s question went unanswered because Arly didn’t know what to do about Benny. He had always seemed to be a kind and compassionate human being, with a decent sense of what was right and wrong. However, he was also the son of a man who knowingly allowed his company to hurt others and benefited from the empire his father built...

Several long, tiring days passed before Arly found herself in the ethics class again. She knew that their lunchtime conversation had very little bearing on reality, and, realistically, the likelihood that either man would be interested in committing a serious crime was small...

Arly proved to be a determined young woman when she had her mind set on something, which Kyran and Tom came to learn in the days following the trial’s conclusion. Every day, they found her in the courtyard researching the newest update in the case. They appreciated that Arly did not seem interested in dragging them into the mess with her...

In the week that passed, Arly learned more about the men she peer-reviewed each period. She knew that Tom’s parents did not approve of his artistic aspirations. He also wasn’t near as much of an asshole as she expected. She knew that Kyran wanted to return to Africa when he completed his studies to work towards a better future there...

Two months earlier, a prison term for burglary was not on the mind of any college student enrolled in Haven Heights University. Those students were far more focused on their first day of class – a monumental experience for the incoming freshmen and a tedious one for returning upperclassmen...