He believed it with his whole chest, believed it so completely that even at the end, even signing away everything, he could say I spent eleven years building that firm and mean it, mean it as a grievance, as a thing that had been stolen from him.

And the reason he could believe it was that he had never once been made to look at what his life was actually standing on.

He had never had to look, because everything underneath him had held.

The house held, so he assumed he owned it.

The office held, so he assumed the firm had earned it.

The household ran, so he assumed his salary sustained it.

The children were fed and clothed and raised, so he assumed all of it was the natural fruit of his own success.