Chapter 4 - The Impending Bankruptcy
On a rainy Monday morning in October, my executive assistant, Sarah, walked into my corner office on the seventy-second floor.
Through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the Chicago skyline stretched beneath an overcast autumn sky. I was dressed in a tailored ivory silk suit and matching vest, my long dark hair cascading over my shoulders in elegant waves, wearing subtle diamond drop earrings.
Beside my mahogany desk, three-year-old Chloe was standing in a delicate lace blush dress and cream hair bow, giggling as she drew a colorful crayon house on my legal pad.
"Madison," Sarah said, setting a red-labeled corporate docket on the desk. "The ten o'clock acquisition appointment has arrived in the executive lounge."
"Who is it, Sarah?" I asked calmly, smoothing Chloe’s hair.
"Sterling Technologies," Sarah replied, pointing to the financial analysis on the screen. "Their commercial bond debt defaulted at midnight. They have seven days of cash liquidity remaining and a ninety-two percent debt-to-equity ratio. Unless our firm approves a one-hundred-and-twenty-million-dollar emergency mezzanine investment, their firm will enter involuntary Chapter 7 liquidation by Friday."
I picked up the executive roster sheet.
Listed under the delegation:
Daniel Carter, Chief Executive Officer.
Victoria Hayes, Executive Vice President of Communications.
May you like
A slow, icy smile touched my lips.
"Bring them in, Sarah," I commanded softly.
