We can’t ask investors to trust records we haven’t verified.”

He had always admired decisiveness.

Now he discovered that sometimes the bravest decision was to stop long enough for the truth to catch up.

PART 7: Two Boys and a Planet Notebook

Naomi permitted a first meeting two weeks later.

It was brief and carefully planned at the library where she sometimes brought the boys on Saturdays.

She called Preston a family friend, telling him the deeper conversation would come only after the adults had settled it together.

Theo examined Preston’s expensive shoes with frank interest.