"I know who you are, Stan. Or at least, I know enough." Sophie paused, choosing her next words with the kind of care that suggested she'd been thinking about them for longer than just this car ride. "A man who gives away an entire building without asking for anything in return is not the same man that post describes. Those two people can't exist in the same body."
Stan felt something loosen in his chest, a tension he hadn't realized he'd been carrying.
He wasn't the type to need validation. He'd told himself, repeatedly, that the forum gossip didn't matter, that it would blow over, that the truth was irrelevant as long as the money kept flowing. And all of that was accurate. But hearing Sophie say I know, simply, directly, without drama, landed somewhere unexpected. Somewhere that had nothing to do with rebates or favorability counters.
"People talk," he said, his voice quieter now. "I can't control that."
