He learned, in a concrete garage, that the person he’d chased had been running the same arithmetic on him the whole time.

None of it was my concern anymore.

I noted it the way you note weather in a city you’ve moved away from.

The litigation moved fast.

Warner told his lawyers to stall, betting my anger would fade and I’d settle small.

He’d underestimated Marlon Aldercott, who filed aggressive discovery, put the wire receipts and hotel ledgers and texts into the record, and produced my original promissory notes — threatening an audit of the firm’s early capitalization. Settle to our terms by Friday, or we go to public trial and open your books. Warner broke.