ARIA

“I stopped it.” His reflection in the window shows a bitter smile. “I’d been watching, learning. I knew which board members were loyal and which were snakes. I gathered evidence of their embezzlement...yes, embezzlement seems to be a recurring theme in my life...and threatened to go public unless they backed down.”

“At sixteen?”

“At sixteen.” He turns to face me. “I learned early that the only person you can truly rely on is yourself. That trust is a weakness ...