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, 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 people will exploit. That love..." He pauses. "Love is just another vulnerability."
"Is that what Christina taught you?"
"Christina reinforced what I already knew." His ice-blue eyes were distant. "I thought she was different. I thought she understood the world I lived in, understood me. For two years, I let her in. Told her th
