That is the one I cannot find any angle from which to forgive: that I was loved at my most unlovable, completely and without condition, and I treated it as the least valuable asset in the room.

And then had come Delphine: an investor five years my senior, with the lethal charm of a woman who has never once been told no, and, more to the point, the keys to a kingdom — connections without end and a family trust that could erase my debts with a single signature.

She saw my desperation and I saw her utility.

Our “business meetings” quickly became a quiet transaction.