He had reached into the one genuinely good heart in that family and used it as a lever.

And my mother had watched him do it and called it the easiest part.

Chapter 6 — What I Became

Fairbank cleared his throat and steered them back to the paperwork, and in doing so he laid out the shape of the whole trap for me, which was a kindness he did not intend.

“Your father’s money handles your debts and my fee,” he said.

“But a fabricated admission of this size generates a real invoice — over a hundred and fifty thousand.