Cal puts his mug down hard.

"The person I was," he says sharply, "was a cowardly lying sack of shit. I let Gliardi run my career for years because I didn't have the fucking spine to tell him to go fuck himself. When I finally did, it was too late for me to get out alive, and I deserved that. I am not that person anymore."

He won't let himself be.

Ever.