Chapter 4 - The Golden Cage
While Claire was speeding through the midnight rain toward the ancestral estate on Long Island,Ethan Cole was sipping a twenty-year-old single malt whiskey in the plush penthouse suite of the Gramercy Park Hotel.
The suite had been booked and paid for by Grant Holloway,senior vice president of acquisitions at Crownridge Properties.Grant was a man who lived for corporate pageantry,wearing his expensive suits like a suit of armor and treated subordinates like disposable chess pieces.
"To new beginnings,Ethan,Grant said,clinking his heavy crystal glass against Ethan's."Getting rid of dead weight is the first rule of corporate survival.You can't climb to the C-suite if you're weighed down by someone who belongs behind a diner counter."
Ethan smiled,swirling the amber liquid in his glass.The sting of guilt he had felt when Claire looked at him with those quiet,broken eyes had completely disappeared,replaced by the intoxicating intoxication of validation.For years,he had felt like an imposter—a brilliant mind trapped in a mediocre life by a woman who wanted nothing more than to pay the electric bill.
"She just didn't understand the vision,Grant,Ethan said,leaning back against the velvet cushions of the sofa."Every conversation was about limitations.Rent,groceries,Transit cards.Success requires audacity."
"And you have it,Grant praised,clapping him on the shoulder."Tomorrow is the big presentation for the Midtown Plaza restructuring project.If you nail the financial projections,the board will officially lock in your promotion to Director of Acquisitions.You'll be making partner-level bonuses before you're thirty."
"I've memorized every metric," Ethan replied with absolute confidence."Crownridge is positioned to dominate the commercial market,especially once we finalize our acquisition of those seventeen prime Manhattan towers."
"About those towers,Grant said,his expression flickering with a brief,uncharacteristic shadow of anxiety."The master leaseholder has been notoriously difficult to pin down.Bennett Holdings.Mysterious entity.Old money,No. 100% Reputation.Our legal team has been trying to secure a meeting for six months,but they won't even return our calls."
Ethan waved his hand dismissively."Old money always moves slowly.Once we show them our projected growth models,They'll fold.Big capital respects big ambition."
May you like
Grant nodded,Although a faint unease lingered in his eyes."Let's hope so."Because if Bennett Holdings decides to call in our debt notes before the merger closes,Crownridge goes under overnight."
Ethan,taking another sip of whiskey."Relax,Grant.Nothing can stop us now."
