One month later, Damian's company entered formal liquidation. I attended the asset auction as the Sterling Capital representative.
The office we had built together now wore seizure tags on every surface. Desks, patents, equipment, Damian's car, his property, everything was laid out for the highest bidder. Damian sat in the corner as the debtor of record, hollow as a shell.
I raised my paddle, and the core assets went to me at a price so low it was almost insulting, all of it perfectly legal and already finalized.
After the auction came the transfer paperwork. Damian's hand trembled as he worked through the stack. Page by page, the color drained out of him. When the last signature was inked, he sagged into the chair like someone had pulled the spine from his body.
I gathered the documen
