He never said we will get your money back or do not worry.

Every answer he gave had an edge of honest uncertainty on it — sometimes, it depends, there is still a chance, I can submit the escalation but I cannot promise the outcome.

I had spent weeks surrounded by a man promising my sister everything, in phrases built entirely out of certainty, and here across a plain table was a man who would promise me almost nothing, and I trusted him completely, precisely because of that.

I have thought about that since.