all smiles, and he practically preened, telling everyone how “supportive” his sister-in-law was.
What Marcus didn’t know was that I’d spent those two weeks talking to Alan, to three of Marcus’s early clients, and to the reporter covering the story. I didn’t lie. I didn’t exaggerate. I simply told them the truth: that the beautiful “vintage workshop aesthetic” everyone had complimented at his launch party had been built by quietly selling off his late father-in-law’s tools without permission, tools that had since needed to be bought back at full price
