“I couldn’t imagine growing up like that. Why the hell was she allowed to keep custody of him if she didn’t care about him?” I blush when I see someone looking my way. Embarrassed at getting loud.

Victoria’s smile is bitter. “Simple, no one else wanted him. Leo’s a fighter though, has been since his birth six weeks premature. Yes, he had the trust fund for the first eighteen years of his life however he stopped taking money the day he turned eighteen. He got into Stanford on scholarship and survived off a meager payoff from Agatha’s life insurance. Everything he has he has fought hard for. I just wish he was willing to fight for more. Leo felt from a young age he never quite fit in, so he refused to fight for acceptance. Instead, he became a loner, embracing his outsider status.

“Leo feels more comfortable alone, it’s why he has so few friends and the stupid belief he won’t marry. Personally, I believe he’ll fall fast when he meets the right woman. She’ll have to have a soft heart, but a strong backbone to deal with his hard head.

“As much as Leo thinks he feels more comfortable alone, he flourishes when he isn’t. I’m quite relieved about his friendships with Dmitri Markhoff and Drake Hawthorne, especially the mentorship of Drake’s father, John. The mentorship gave Leo a firm base to grow. Working for John was exactly what Leo needed in his life when he came back to Chicago after graduating from Stanford. John not only encouraged Leo’s plans for the hedge fund, more importantly, he believed in Leo.

“Exousia was the hedge fund Wall Street was laying bets on to fail in the first year. Leo proved them all wrong. He refuses to follow market trends, only half the fund is actually invested in the market, as I’m sure you know. It’s also the only fund not to trade by computer you know all those damn trades based on algorithms that cause mini-crashes every other day because of stock triggers. Buys and sells are carefully controlled and only processed by actual humans.

“There is also the variety of investments outside of the market. The fund has produced three best picture Oscar-winning movies in the last eight years. It’s financed some of the best new technology in almost every industry. Leo has done a lot of great things with Exousia.”

I nod, only I just can’t let it go. “Leo has also done a lot of other things with it too.”