There is no such life.

He had bet everything on the existence of a thing that does not exist.

Chapter 18 — Quiet Peace

His professional life came apart along much the same lines, and for much the same reasons — a man whose whole competence had rested on charm and confidence discovered that charm and confidence do not survive the collapse of the lies that fed them.

He lost his best client to a careless mistake, lost the account, lost a large part of his income.