Chapter 2 - Derek Never Looked Like Someone Who Needed My Money
I met Derek Sloan at thirty.
He was thirty-three.
We were introduced by a mutual friend at a corporate leadership conference.
Derek ran a boutique executive-recruiting and consulting firm called:
Sloan Advisory Group.
He dressed beautifully.
Traveled often.
Knew:
CEOs,
private-equity partners,
lawyers,
consultants.
At least socially.
He spoke the language of:
deals.
He drove a black Range Rover.
Lived in a luxury rental.
Bought excellent wine.
On our fourth date he took me to:
Napa.
I paid for my own flight.
He paid for:
everything else.
Nothing about him suggested:
financial distress.
That became important because people later asked:
“How did you not know?”
Because struggling financially does not always look like:
poverty.
Sometimes it looks like:
maintaining an expensive life long after the income supporting it has changed.
Derek’s business had done very well during:
two hiring booms.
Then corporate recruiting slowed.
Clients delayed searches.
Several large retainers disappeared.
Derek kept:
spending
as though revenue would recover immediately.
He considered that:
confidence.
His mother called it:
“maintaining market position.”
His accountant apparently called it:
something else.
I did not know.
Because while we discussed:
money,
we did not share:
business books.
That was reasonable before marriage.
Until Derek began asking me to assume:
business risk
May you like
without showing me what existed underneath it.
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