They Demanded a 60-Course Birthday Feast to Prove They Owned Me — So I Delivered Exactly 60 Dishes, and an Eviction Notice

Or genuinely, Sloan — don’t bother coming back at all.”

“I’ll be back at eleven-thirty,” I whispered, gathering the card and the keys with a trembling hand that was not entirely a performance.

“With everything you asked for.

I promise.”

It was, I would reflect later, the only completely honest thing I said to him that entire morning.

I did come back at eleven-thirty.