Glory was different, though. She wasn't a Texas girl, and maybe that's what Christopher liked about her. She wasn't like any of the girls in Denton, when Christopher would often visit for work. She was a Boston girl of German and Irish descent, with big green eyes, curly red hair, and a spray of freckles on the bridge of her nose. She had yankee sensibilities, but made the best of her time in Denton after following a boy down there. She stood out every which way. Christopher didn't much care Glory was stripping to pay her way through nursing school, or about the age differece. He desired her, and that was that.

Christopher bought her pretty things and promised her the world. Glory saw a way to make her life easier, and she took it. Somehow, Christopher still had a few swimmers at 63, and Glory became pregnant. She didn't tell Christopher at first, but as the due date drew nearShe eventually gave birth to twins: Thomas and Tamsin. but not before Christopher made an "honest woman" of her. Christopher had spent his entire life avoiding having children, and while he hadn't exactly been planning on ever having kids, he did want an heir or two to whom he could leave his growing fortune.

Daddy was a strict man, and held his children to high account and high expectations. While not outwardly abuse, he was all hard points and sharp edges. His mother was softer, more caring and compassionate, but her message never strayed from that of Tom's father, regardless of her opinion on a subject. His father had always warned against rich people. It was an odd counterpoint, as Tom grew up wealthy, he and his sister attending the best schools in San Antonio. According to Christopher, rich people only cared about being rich, and would stab anyone else in the back to protect themselves. He said this with no irony, with seemingly no awareness of the self-indictment. Fine, daddy. Now, about that go-kart.

While Tom was an incredibly bright kid, he didn't really apply himself in school. English and History were his preferred subjects. He was part of the high school newspaper and yearbook club. Played sports, baseball mostly, for the social aspects more than the love of the game. He would spend summers working with the racehorses his father owned, and rode dressage for a time. He was happy enough being social and spending time with friends. He stuck pretty close to him, moving just a couple hours away up to Austin. College was a turning point for him. He became a bit of a crusader for social justice, particularly for women's rights and gun control.

Tom's father lived until the ripe old age of 89. Since Tom's birth, he had invested heavily in alternative energies, as well as doubling down on petroleum and natural gas. He had made an unspeakable amount of money in his long career, and the IRS was after every bit of it. Tom focused his razor-sharp investigative skills to his father, digging into his past and his former business dealings. For eighteen months, they put the surviving members of the Hardin family through hell. He wasn't exactly surprised to find that his father was a opportunistic double-dealer who had little respect for the law so long as nobody was getting hurt in his eyes. His father was pretty meticulous, but Tom had eventually found some caches of cash and paperwork that his father kept as insurance in case any of his shadier business partners tried to apply leverage against him.

Ultimately, every thread the IRS tugged on led to a dead end, and while audits turned up some minor accounting mistakes in the government's favor, the family would be financially secure for life. The pain his family had to endure to get what was rightfully theirs fueled his fire for reform even more. While he threw himself into his studies, he found he had an innate understanding of the law. Tom had convinced himself that perhaps he could reform the judicial system from within. After graduating from UT with a dual major in journalism and RTF (radio-television-film), he was accepted at a couple law schools. After weighing his options, he went out to Boston University. His mother and sister also moved up to Boston. Glory wanted to recapture her squandered youth, and Tamsin had gotten accepted to a few schools, and it made sense for the family to stick together after losing their father.

As he worked to complete his dual JD/MS in Mass Communication program, he had landed an internship with the Suffolk County District Attorney's office. The pay was non-existant, but the real world application of his education was invaluable. Beside, he really wasn't worried about money. With his background in journalism, he impressed the local district attorney's office with the strength of his legal research. He became a junior assistant district attorney for Suffolk County District attorney's office soon after graduation in 2010.

In 2012, was implicated in allegations of improper sexual conduct with his superior, who was preparing a case against an organized crime syndicate. The fact they were both parties involved were men made the implications especially salacious to the DA's office. It was a clear ploy to destroy the career of the man on the verge of taking down a criminal organzation. Tom was just collateral damage, a prop necessary to ruin an honest man with a secret. While he was ultimately cleared of any wrong-doing, he was forced to resign his position to avoid blowback from the story potentially breaking.

All of his work and his idealism were shattered. His hope died the day he resigned. The unfortunate events made him realize the system was broken beyond repair. Justice and law were lies. The law was a tool to be used, not a standard and code to abide by.

STILL IN PROGRESS: Had a self-destructive six months to a year. Pulled his shit together and decided to go into business and tax law. Has had a successful practice, basically helping people screw the government out of money by creating tax shelters, finding loopholes in certain regulations, and so on. Also operates a photography gallery, as both a platform for art and a shell business for money laundering, should he ever need it.