Chapter 1
The Dangerous Deed
A gun would be too violent.
A noose would be too ancient.
And a knife blade
to the wrist would be too silent.
So, the question became, How could a onceglorious
life be ended swiftly and precisely, with
minimum mess yet maximum
impact?
Only a year ago, circumstances had been dramatically
more hopeful.
The
entrepreneur had been widely celebrated as
a titan of her industry, a leader of
society and a philanthropist.
She was in her late thirties, steering the
technology company she founded in her dorm
room in college to everincreasing levels of
marketplace dominance while producing products
that her
customers revered.
Yet now she was being blindsided, facing a
mean-spirited and jealousyfueled coup that
would significantly dilute her ownership stake
in the business
she�d invested most of her life building,
forcing her to find a new job.
The cruelty of this remarkable turn of events
was proving to be
unbearable for the entrepreneur.
Beneath her regularly icy exterior beat a
caring, compassionate and deeply loving heart.
She felt life itself had betrayed
her.
And that she deserved so much better.
She considered swallowing a gigantic bottle
of sleeping pills.
The
dangerous deed would be cleaner this way.
Just take them all and get the job
done fast, she thought.
I need to escape this pain.
Then, she spotted something on the stylish
oak dresser in her all-white
bedroom�a ticket to a personal optimization
conference that her mother had
given her.
The entrepreneur usually laughed at people
who attended such
events, calling them �broken winged� and
saying they were seeking the
answers of a pseudo guru when everything they
needed to live a prolific and
successful life was already within them.
Maybe it was time to rethink her opinion.
She couldn�t see many options.
Either she�d go to the seminar�and experience
some breakthrough that
would save her life.
Or she�d find her peace.
Via a quick death.
