It is enough to say this: that beneath the polished surface of a respectable Chicago firm, the Vance family ran a criminal operation involving large-scale financial fraud and the coercion of others, and that five years ago, Luca had discovered the full extent of it.

“When I understood what they really were,” he said, gripping my hand, “what they were actually doing, to people, I couldn’t be part of it.

I couldn’t.

So I took my own savings, and I cut every tie, and I changed my identity records, and I ran.

I ran as far and as completely as I could.

I built a new life.

I met you.