Lucan had built himself a shield against being wronged and never once considered that he might be the wrongdoer, and so he had walked into that party genuinely believing that whatever happened, his contract protected him.

He was still believing it as he pointed his shaking hand at me.

And I got to watch, in real time, the exact moment he remembered the two words that turned his own shield into the instrument of his ruin.

His clever clause did not protect him from consequences.

It only guaranteed that his consequences would be thorough.

The general counsel opened the folder and listed the findings without any drama at all, which made them land harder: falsified expense reports, undisclosed conflicts of interest, vendor kickbacks, deleted audit emails, misuse of company funds.