Everything that followed, the collapsed firm, the lawsuits, the liquidation, was simply the natural shape of Luca’s own affairs, revealed once the artificial support was withdrawn and the truth of his conduct became visible.

A company that cannot survive sixty days without a hidden guarantor was never a healthy company.

A man whose books cannot survive an audit was never running an honest firm.

I did not push Luca off a cliff.

I merely stopped carrying him, and stepped back, and let the reality he had been hiding from become, at last, undeniable.

There is a cleanness in that which I have held onto.

I owe him nothing, but I also did nothing to him.