Daru walks up to him, Phil sitting with his briefcase on his lap.
Looking ahead out of focus.
"Hey…"
"Oh, Daru, what are you doing here?"
"I was passing by and just wanted to walk in the park."
"Oh."
Phil, with a thin smile, nodded at him.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine."
Daru tilted his head, maintaining eye contact.
He didn't say anything.
"Oh, look at the time. I need to be somewhere else."
Phil looked at his hand to a watch that had stopped working.
Phil got up, "I'll meet you later, huh." Phil looked at Daru and waved.
Daru held onto his elbow with a light squeeze, "Phil, don't go, talk to me."
"I don't know what you mean…"
"I can see it in your eyes, Phil. Come, sit."
Daru pulled him lightly, then let his elbow go and pushed him gently to the chair.
"Talk to me, we are family."
Phil looks at Daru for a sec, his face scrunched in decision.
"Haa, alright." Sighing, Phil said.
"To put it shortly, the people I used to work for, let's say they didn't want me anymore."
"Hmm…"
"And I am in a bit of trouble…"
"Is it money?"
"… yes, but it is so much more than that."
Phil raised his balled hands, "those bastards, after I built the brand and helped broker so many deals… they just ousted me from the group."
"Why did you join those pricks?"
"…mhh," breathing strongly from the nose, Phil continued, "they said and guaranteed a partnership."
"You don't know these guys; they have built a brokerage firm in so many states, and when they came here, they met me and offered that I would lead the firm here."
"Man, those assholes, saying that I was the star here and that's why they wanted me. And I believed them, I should not have."
"Ha ha." Daru laughed to the sky.
"What's funny," and for the first time, Daru saw Phil's angry face.
'Man, this dead killer look, he really hides a beast inside.'
"You would not believe me. I didn't just drop by Gloria's house randomly."
"Oh, I heard; Gloria said that you… um, left unannounced."
"Ha ha, it was much more than that, but the point is that I am in the same boat as yours… the people I worked with also didn't want me anymore."
"Ah," Phil sighed in realization, "I am sorry."
"Hey, it's alright, and you, it's not like you cannot start again. I mean, I heard you started the same way with nothing in the beginning."
"Yeah, but that will take a long time. To get back all my clientele, I have to start all over again."
"Hey, why don't you start your own firm?"
"It's not that easy; there are so…"
"Come on, this time working with them you learned how to run the business, now start your own, and as for the money, how about I invest in you."
Phil looked at Daru with wide eyes, "you would invest in me."
"Absolutely," Daru said, 'that's the least I can do after stealing your wife and daughter.'
Phil looked at him like a puppy but then shook his head.
"No, I can't; it's not just the money. And those bastards, they will surely make it a lot worse."
Like a spider buzz, something in his head clicked; he felt that helping Phil, he was close to coming up with the key element for his plan too.
So he doubled down, "and why do you have to do it alone."
"Huh."
"You know, Phil, people are creatures of habit."
Daru turned and looked at him, "what they have done to you might not be their first."
"And you are the first or not, if you are, then they will do it to someone else, and if you are not, then there are others who they have done it to."
"I don't know where you are going with this."
"You said they have opened firms all over; why don't you check those places out, use your network."
Phil looked like it finally clicked for him.
"They would have needed good brokers in those areas too, and if you contact them, bind them with the revenge and prospect of the new wave of funding. I bet some will want to jump onto your boat."
"Daru, that's a very good idea." Phil now looked that much more ecstatic.
Daru looked at him with another gleam, "hey and just on the side note, look to see if you can find any other dirt on them."
"What do you mean?" Still with the biggest of grins, Phil asked.
"Sin is like an abyss, the longer you stay in it the more it makes you a part of it."
"What I am saying is, if they are really bad, then they would have done something else too."
Phil now looked to have bulbs for eyes, "Daru, that really might be true, you know what I will get down on this right now."
Phil got up, looking at Daru, he said, "thank you, Daru, and for the investment, you don't have to. I will…"
"Hey, come on, it's alright, we will cross that bridge when it comes to, now you should go and start snooping."
Phil smiled at Daru and practically ran out of the park.
"Ha ha," Daru looked at this with a chuckle, and when Phil was out of his sight, he leaned his back to the support and let out his manacle grin that he was holding back.
Like a scythe, it split his face, "thank you, Phil; now I know what I gotta do."
[AN: It's gonna get fast-paced from here on out.
Let's go!]