They thought he was just a rising name. He was hunting for a gun.

“Half-finished can still work,” Darren said. “If people doubt you once, every move after that gets harder.” He did not fire back immediately. Instead, he went to see someone. Elias Winter had introduced him to Claude Bennett, a former legal adviser at an old-line M&A fund who now ran a small compliance consultancy. Bennett was older, but his stare was cold, like a man who had already seen every accounting trick. “They’re not shorting your stock,” Bennett said. “They’re shorting your credibility.” “I know.” “Then how do you fight that?” “I clean up my structure first.” Darren slid a stack of documents over. “I need you to rebuild the entity stack. Advisory, software, data services, investment management. Four layers.