Hundreds of reporters packed the Nasdaq press hall shoulder to shoulder. Coffee cups covered the floor beside tripods, producers whispered into headsets, and every chair faced the stage.
I sat alone at the long table with one glass of water. Mr. Davies stood at the podium.
“My client will not take questions. She will provide a statement supported by the exhibits behind me.”
He signaled the operator. A scanned handwritten document filled the screen.
“Exhibit A: a promissory note signed by Mr. Stewart. It pledges his then-seventeen-year-old daughter, Ivy, in marriage to a fifty-year-old man in exchange for forgiveness of a gambling debt.”
The room stirred. The next document appeared.
“Exhibit B: emergency room forms from Ms. Stewart’s years as a minor. A fractured wrist at fifteen, rec
