This is the hidden mechanism by which the underestimated so often triumph: not because they are secretly superior, but because the people who underestimate them thereby refuse to watch them, and you cannot defend against what you will not watch.

My father built a life on not seeing me.

And a man who refuses, on principle, to see you, will never once see you coming.

Chapter 13 — The Shares

“Three years ago,” Julian went on, for the whole room to hear, “you transferred thirty percent of Sterling Development’s voting shares into a private family trust in Jessi’s name.

A tax arrangement, I imagine.

A convenience.