I taught you that money buys loyalty, that fear buys safety, that a hard enough man need never be afraid.

I gave you an empire, and I taught you how to hold it.

But sitting here in this empty room, with my own time running short, I have come to understand that I taught you how to rule, and I never taught you how to live.

That failure is mine, not yours, and it is the greatest of my life — greater even than the one I am about to confess.”

Hollis paused, glanced up at me over his glasses, and read on.