Chapter 10

There was nothing new under the sun. Michael's ending was already someone else's past. I heard from my old colleague that the firm collapsed not even two months after I left. It wasn't just that he'd grown used to being hands-off, leaving everyone without direction when I left—he had also become increasingly paranoid and passed on many key opportunities. Despite my contempt for Michael as a person, I admitted he was a capable lawyer. But as a leader? He was a disaster. Zero emotional intelligence and negative leadership. Though some old contacts tried to help, he pushed them all away—he'd long stopped caring about work. Natasha, seeing him as a dead end, vanished without a trace, never to be seen again. The firm dragged on for a year, but in the end, it collapsed under its own weight. My old colleague vented on the phone, but I felt no joy. In fact, I thought his end was deserved. He made his own choices, so he should lie in the bed he made. I smiled. "I figured. It was only