The story died within a week.
I'm not sure why. Maybe the reporter lost interest. Maybe the facts were too boring, too ordinary, too small for the outlet's readers. Maybe Carter called her and asked her to kill it. Maybe she just found something better to do.
Whatever the reason, it went quiet. The clients stopped calling. The investors stopped asking questions. The trade publication ran a correction, a small one, tucked at the bottom of a page. ALX Analytics had no connection to any family trust. The company had been founded independently by its current CEO. The allegations were unfounded.
I should have felt relief. I didn't.
The thing about winning is that it doesn't actually fix anything. It just moves the problem to a different room and locks the door.
Diane called me at the end o
