Fear follows crime and is its punishment.

Doing something you know is wrong does not end when the act ends. It leaves a watchfulness behind, a flinch at footsteps, a rehearsed answer for a question nobody has asked. That low dread is not imposed from outside; it grows from the part of you that keeps score.

If you are carrying something like that, notice how much of your attention it quietly takes. Naming it to one person you trust, or making whatever repair is still possible, usually costs less than the watching does. Where a repair is impossible, let the reckoning be honest and then let it be finished.