“Your uncle?

That was a private loan.

It was settled years ago.” “It wasn’t a loan,” I said, and I opened the folder so he could see the certified equity certificates and the legal filings, his father’s own original signature at the bottom of the founding documents.

“It was a thirty-five percent voting equity stake, placed in an irrevocable trust — one written to transfer to me on the birth of my first child.” He took a step back.

The coffee cups crumpled in his hands.