However, beyond the strain this had introduced in his marriage, what worried him more was how this would be catastrophic to the broader system – if he were right, that is.  More than any other bet he’d made, ironically he wished he would turn out to be wrong with this one.  On some level, he was hoping everybody else around him, and the majority of the finance world that he knew, was right.

But in his gut he believed they weren’t.  All the numbers, all the information he was gathering, all the scenarios he ran, pointed in the direction he had been putting his bets in.  He had never been emotional about his investments. And he had always trusted his instincts, trusted his read, above everything else. 

As he told Melanie, if he turned out to be wrong, all he’d lose were amounts he could afford to lose. But the worse thing that would most likely happen also would be probably losing her.  If he was wrong.

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Present day, six months after rehab work on the house began.  All construction work was done, and Bette and Tina were beginning to slowly move things in, including some things that they had left in storage after relocating to New York.

Bette and Logan were relaxing in the office she’d created out of one of the rooms of the duplex.  Custom furniture she’d had made for the office was being delivered.  The last piece was the sofa they were sitting in that had just been unwrapped – and which Logan initially thought would not be able to support both of them.  It was made of a type of weave of flexible but durable metal “ropes” welded in various points, and the look of the sofa reminded him of a combination of a spider’s web and a bird’s nest.  See-through, delicate, and sculptural.  It was the most unusual sofa he had ever seen. Bette assured him “this thing can hold up a trio of sumo wrestlers, so I’m pretty sure it can hold us up, Logan.”

Logan eased back into the sofa.  “Wow, Bette. Even without cushions this is really, really relaxing.  It just sorts of holds you like a giant hand, doesn’t it?”  He leaned his head back, and shut his eyes.