“David, what is it?” Adrian barked, swirling his scotch. “I told you I wasn’t to be disturbed tonight. I’m busy taking out the trash.”
“Adrian! What the hell did you do?!”
David’s voice exploded from the tiny speaker. He wasn’t speaking with his usual deferential, polished corporate tone. He was hysterical. His voice was shrill, breathless, and bordering on a full-blown, panic-induced scream.
“Excuse me?” Adrian’s posture stiffened, his arrogant smirk faltering. “Watch your tone, David.”
“Watch my tone?! Adrian, Apex Holdings just pulled our entire liquidity line!” David shrieked, the sound of frantic typing and shouting echoing in the background of his end of the call. “The Vanguard Trust just triggered the morality and emergency recall clauses on our primary operational loans! They are demanding immediate repayment in full! Do you understand me? Right now!”
Adrian froze. The crystal glass in his hand stopped swirling. “That’s impossible. We have a thirty-day grace period on any recall—”
“There is no grace period!” David screamed, his voice cracking. “They are actively liquidating the company, Adrian! Our lines of credit are vanishing. The servers are locking us out. Our stock price is plummeting into the dirt in after-hours block trading! Every major investor is pulling out simultaneously! We are seventy million dollars in the red, and it’s been three minutes!”
Minute Four.
The scotch glass slipped from Adrian’s hand.
It hit the marble floor, shattering into a hundred glittering pieces, the expensive amber liquor splashing across my blood.
read more in next page
