Chapter 3 - The Morning Panic
The morning sun broke through the clouds over downtown Minneapolis.
Gavin Pierce stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows of his corner office, sipping expensive espresso.
He checked his gold Rolex watch for the fifth time in ten minutes.
The wire transfer was supposed to clear at exactly nine o'clock.
It was now nine-fifteen.
His office door burst open, and his chief financial officer rushed in, sweating profusely.
"The money isn't there, Gavin," the CFO panicked, waving a tablet in the air.
Gavin's confident smile instantly vanished.
"What do you mean it isn't there?" Gavin snapped.
"Sterling Meridian put a hard freeze on the entire transaction," the CFO explained frantically.
Gavin slammed his espresso cup down on the glass desk, shattering it.
He finally realized I was not bluffing last night.
He pulled out his phone and dialed my number, but the line was completely disconnected.
Charlotte walked into the office, looking annoyed by the sudden shouting.
"Find her right now," Gavin ordered Charlotte, his voice trembling with genuine fear.
"Find Sabrina and drag her back here before the board of directors finds out we are broke."
Charlotte rolled her eyes, but she quickly pulled out her own phone to start making calls.
Meanwhile, I was sitting at the head of the Sterling Meridian boardroom table.
My hair was professionally styled, and I was wearing a sharp, tailored white suit.
Julian stood right behind my chair like a loyal shadow.
"The offshore debt Gavin dumped on you is a ticking time bomb," Julian warned me.
"If the federal authorities trace it, you will go to prison instead of him."
I stared at the financial documents, my mind racing with a hundred different strategies.
"Then we are going to bury him before the authorities even notice," I declared.
The heavy boardroom doors swung open, and the seven members of the credit committee walked in.
They were all older, wealthy men who looked at me with obvious skepticism.
"Ms. Miller, we respect your father, but you are not qualified to run this firm," the oldest board member stated bluntly.
I did not flinch.
I stood up and pressed a button on the remote control in my hand.
The massive screen behind me lit up with SwiftFreight's highly confidential internal logistics data.
"I spent six years formatting Gavin's private schedules and reading his emails while he slept," I told them.
I pointed to a specific red line on the graph.
"I know exactly which shipping routes are failing and which executives are stealing from him."
The board members stared at the screen in stunned silence.
"I am not just going to cancel his funding," I promised with a cold smile.
"I am going to completely dismantle his empire and buy it for pennies."
Julian suddenly leaned down and whispered into my ear.
May you like
"We have a situation, Ms. Miller," Julian murmured.
"Charlotte Gable just walked into the lobby downstairs, and she is demanding to see you."
