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“Yes, Zachary LeBlanc.” The name was familiar, of course, and not just because LeBlanc was a common name in New Orleans. The LeBlancs and the Broussards were very well known in our community. One of the brothers, Xander, had been theone to put the paper trail together to prove my brothers had swindled money.

“I see” was all I said.

Why would a LeBlanc be interested in this? The Orleans Conglomerate had dozens of businesses already, and this would be so out of their realm.

“We’re going to coordinate it so that both of you see it at the same time, if that’s all right?”

“Sure, that makes sense.”

For them, at least.

“By the way,” he continued, “some guy called named Marcel.”

“Right...”

“He said he’s working with Zachary LeBlanc and started asking us about you.”

I blinked, certain I’d heard him wrong. “I’m sorry, asking aboutme? Asking what?”

“If we’ve met you, what kind of person you are, if we can see ourselves doing business with you. If we’ve heard about your brothers’... er, ah... endeavors.”

Well, not a total surprise. It wasn’t as if the town hadn’t been talking about it, but still, that was extremely unprofessional. Obviously, he wanted to give them a bad impression of me.

“I found the whole thing very odd,” Gaston continued.

“Yes, it is,” I agreed. I kept my fingers crossed that he would hold this against Zachary. I already disliked the man on principle. Who would do that to someone else simply because they were interested in the same investment opportunity? “Mr. Gaston—”

“You may just call me Gaston.”

“Right. I’m an open book, and you can ask me anything.”

There was a pause, and then he said, “There’s been a lot of bad news concerning your brothers in the last year.”

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Oh, if I had a penny every time I heard that. “Yes, I know. And I want you to know that I hold them responsible for what they did too. It was wrong.”

“It was indeed. People say that they tricked a lot of people out of money.”

In layman’s terms, yes. In legal terms, it had almost been a Ponzi scheme. It was only because my brothers could afford the very best of lawyers that they narrowly escaped any legal repercussions, but they had to leave the city. No one around here would do business with them again.

Even while we were growing up, I’d never seen eye to eye with them. They were always looking for the quick way to do things. Then as we got older, it was how to make bank without really doing anything. That was perhaps one of the reasons why I hadn’t wanted to go to the same schools they did. I’d wanted to pave my own way even then. The right way.

“Well, my wife and I have been talking...”

“Gaston,” I said quietly. “Iwould be the one investing in your business. The risk is on my side, but if you feel insecure about it—”

“No, no, no. You know what? Let’s forget I ever said anything. I don’t even know why I did. That Marcel guy must have gotten in my head.”

I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t even met Zachary LeBlanc, yet I already had a bone to pick with him.

“We’re a small business and know that anyone who invests does so because their heart tells them to, not because they’re expecting any big profits,” he went on.

That was true. I hadn’t even asked to look over their financials yet. I would eventually, but I didn’t expect to find anything great.

“Do you have any experience with animal-assisted therapy?” he asked me.

“Only dogs. I find the whole thing very endearing. I went to therapy after my divorce,” I found myself saying, then closed my eyes.Why did I say that?I tried to never share anything personal with people I wanted to work with. I didn’t want to be perceived as weak or something worse. “What I meant to say was, I know how helpful animal-assisted therapy is. I think your work with veterans and kids is truly admirable, and that’s really why I wanted to help out.” They especially focused on post-traumatic stress disorders in veterans and anxiety in children.

“Thank you. That’s very nice to hear. Listen, my wife is feeding the horses, and I don’t think she’ll be back very soon, so I can’t give you a definite date right now.”