Mark Love. The name slipped off his tongue. He laid on the floor beside his head, which had a six hundred dollar mattress. When he wasn't sleeping he felt more comfortable laying on the carpet. He liked the way it felt against his bare feet. He liked the way it felt against his finger and his bare forearms.

His phone was off. Let allowed to die. He couldn't bring himself to turn it off while it was constantly going off. The person he had betrayed, his old friend, was visiting his hometown. Someplace out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe his ex friend being all the way across the country made this easier.

Mark Love. The person he had sent all the

bitcoin

to. Elation filled him as he pressed the button to confirm the transaction. He knew there was no going back. And why he sent all his and Will's bitcoin to a person he had only known for a few weeks, he would never be able to explain it to anyone. Not even himself. That was okay. He wouldn't have to explain it to Will or to anyone else. Because Mark Love would take him overseas. And the two of them would live in obscurity. Secret identities.

He didn't know who this Mark Love was. Just knew he had connections. But it was unclear how or through what means he had such. This fascinated him. He had spent much of the past five years trying to make it as a big shot here. Out West. Where everybody was either a brilliant 

success

or a tragic failure.

Will was supposed to be his train to success. But things hadn't gone as planned. And so when Mark Love came around maybe Diego felt it too good to be true. Even now he still wondered whether it was. But he couldn't bring himself to entertain that possibility. Mark Love ghosting him. Running away with the last shot he and Will had had for funding their 

startup

. If Mark Love vanished then Diego would have no way to explain what happened to Will, and he'd be stuck here with all the regular people. Rather than away in the luxurious paradise with Mark Love.

This is why he didn't recharge his phone. So long as he kept it dead, he could pretend that he had missed texts from Mark Love. Trying to take him away from here.