Monday was a waste of time. Harper sat in a beige conference room at a mid-tier medical supply company in Queens. The interviewer was a nice woman with cat hair on her cardigan who asked Harper where she saw herself in five years.
"Running a conglomerate," Harper wanted to say.
"Growing with a stable team," she actually said.
She walked out knowing she would reject the second interview. It was too slow. Too safe. It was miles away from the battlefield.
Tuesday she interviewed at a startup in SoHo. The CEO wore a hoodie and talked about "disrupting the paradigm." Harper looked at their balance sheet during the waiting period. They were burning cash like it was kindling. They would be bankrupt by Christmas.
She walked out of there, too.
Wednesday morning, the sky was a brilliant, hard blue. Harper stood in front of her mirror. She was wearing her armor: a deep navy suit, tailored to within an inch of its life. It was the most expensive thing she owned.
She pulled her hair back into a severe bun. She applied lipstick-a shade darker than natural, a shade lighter than dangerous.
The Sterling Tower rose out of the pavement like a shard of black glass. It reflected the city back at itself, distorted and dark.
Security was tighter than the airport. Harper handed over her ID. The guard scanned it, his eyebrows raising slightly when the system flagged her as a VIP guest.
"Top floor, Ms. Sinclair."
The elevator ride was fast. Her ears popped.
When the doors opened, she wasn't in a lobby. She was directly in the office.
It was cavernous. Minimalist. A vast expanse of grey stone and black leather. Julian sat behind a desk that looked like a slab of obsidian. He didn't stand up. He didn't smile. He just pointed a pen at the single chair opposite him.
Harper walked across the room. The click of her heels was the only sound. She sat down, keeping her back straight, not touching the back of the chair.
She placed a folder on the desk.
"The Cayman records," she said. "And a breakdown of the shell companies Miller is using to purchase the properties."
Julian didn't open the folder. He leaned back, steepled his fingers, and looked at her.
"You want a job," he stated.
"I want an opportunity."
"To do what? Take down Miller?"
"To ensure that when Sterling Capital inevitably cleans house at NewGen, you have someone on the inside who knows where the rot is."
Julian's eyes narrowed. "Sinclair MedTech is dead. It's NewGen now. And I know who you are, Harper. The name isn't common. You're the granddaughter of the founder."
Harper didn't flinch. "Then you know why I'm the most dangerous person you could hire. I'm not looking for a paycheck. I'm looking for blood. And that makes me efficient."
"Or it makes you a liability," Julian countered. "Vengeance is messy. Business requires precision."
"Review the file," Harper said, nodding at the folder. "That's precision. I found in two days what your auditors missed in two years."
Julian stood up. He moved around the desk with a predator's grace. He walked until he was standing right next to her chair. He leaned down, placing his hands on the armrests, boxing her in.
His face was inches from hers. She could smell the coffee on his breath, mixed with mint.
"You're playing a dangerous game, Miss Sinclair," he whispered. "You think because I held an elevator for you, you have an in."
Harper didn't flinch. She turned her head, meeting his gaze dead-on.
"I don't need an in," she said softly. "I need a battlefield. And you own the land."
Julian stared at her. For a long, stretched silence, he searched her face for fear. He found none.
He pushed himself up. A grin broke across his face-sharp, wolfish, and genuinely delighted.
He hit the intercom button on his desk.
"Margaret. Set up an interview for Ms. Sinclair with NewGen's strategy department. Tell them she comes with my personal recommendation."
Harper let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"Thank you," she said, standing up.
"Don't thank me yet," Julian said, his back to her as he walked to the window. "NewGen is a shark tank. I just threw you in with the blood in the water."
"I like sharks," Harper said.
"We'll see," Julian replied.
Harper walked out of the office. Her legs were shaking so bad she had to lean against the elevator wall as soon as the doors closed. She pressed her forehead against the cool metal.
She was in.
