Chapter 6 - Panic in the Corner Suite
Across the avenue, on the fortieth floor of Remington Ridge Capital, Alden Remington was pacing his corner office.
He had already changed into a fresh blue shirt from his private closet, but his hands were trembling as he dialed his broker.
The coffee incident had given him the emotional excuse he had been praying to find for three months.
Harper Lively was the only person in the building with the institutional memory to decipher his creative bookkeeping.
With her gone, he believed he had bought himself at least ninety days to liquidate assets and balance the ledger before the auditors arrived.
Then the double oak doors swung open without a knock.
Alden’s executive assistant, Chloe, stood in the threshold, her face completely drained of color.
"Alden, we have a catastrophic problem," she stammered, gripping a clipboard like a shield.
"I told you never to enter my office without knocking, Chloe," Alden barked, adjusting his cuffs.
"Mason Caldwell was in the building," she rushed out, her voice trembling.
Alden froze, the color instantly draining from his tanned face.
"What do you mean, he was in the building?" Alden asked, his voice cracking slightly.
"His quarterly review isn't scheduled until Thursday afternoon."
"He took the red-eye from Chicago," Chloe said, glancing over her shoulder as if someone were listening.
"He stepped out of the elevator just as security was escorting Harper to the lobby."
Alden slammed both palms onto his mahogany desk, knocking over a crystal paperweight.
"Did they speak?" he demanded, terror flashing behind his arrogant facade.
"Sam says Mr. Caldwell took her box, told security to stand down, and walked her out the front doors," Chloe reported.
Alden felt a cold drop of sweat slide down his spine, soaking through his fresh designer shirt.
"Where are they now?" he hissed, grabbing his jacket from the leather sofa.
"Across the street at the diner," Chloe replied, her eyes wide with panic.
"Alden, the compliance officers from the SEC sent a notification thirty minutes ago requesting access to the third-quarter liquidity files."
"Lock down the legacy server room right now!" Alden screamed, his composure shattering entirely.
"Change the administrative passwords, wipe the local cache backups, and tell the front desk that Mason Caldwell is not permitted back on this floor without an appointment!"
"You can't lock out Mason Caldwell," Chloe whispered, horrified.
"He owns half this fund!"
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"I run this fund!" Alden roared, his face turning an ugly shade of crimson.
"Do what I told you before I fire you too!"
