But it was no use. She shut off her video app entirely, opening her laptop once more. The screen had barely illuminated before her cursor was already moving to a shameful little Incognito window, open to a single page: the work profile of Danial Azad, Managing Director at Horace Capital Partners.

There he was.

Exactly as he’d looked in college, yet somehow even more handsome, his long features matured into a masculine sturdiness. His scruffy facial hair was gone, replaced by the five o’clock shadow that appeared nearly the second he shaved. His inky-black, wavy hair was salon-cut and gelled into slicked-back submission and, even in the cropped employee portrait, she could clock his impeccable suit. Through his left eyebrow remained the familiar, pencil-thin scar that stopped just above his lashes.

She had memorized his professional bio—at this point, she knew it better than her own—but reading it still gave her a strange sort of pleasure. After a few years at Barclays and a quick passage through Silicon Valley’s top VC firms, Danial was now the youngest Managing Director at a highly successful private equity firm. From her sleuthing, Alex had deduced that this put his total compensation package north of a million dollars annually. He wasn’t generationally wealthy like the rest of the Columbia Club, but he was well on his way. If he stayed on this track, he could be worth twenty million by forty-five, and she had no doubt that this was exactly the number he had in mind. Every decision in his adult life had been driven by maximizing revenue, directing every ounce of his brilliant energy to the most insidious enterprise he could have possibly chosen.

She shook her head, sighing until she’d expelled enough breath to calm her nervous system. Almost as a reflex, she reached over to her bag and fished out a notebook and pen, her preferred system for any kind of serious work. From its position hovering over Danial’s headshot, she dragged the cursor to another link on the company page—NEWS AT HORACE—and clicked, scrolling to the most recent story: coverage of the firm’s highly controversial takeover of a Pennsylvania manufacturing plant. She opened her notebook and flipped to a fresh page, clicking open her pen. Her eyes were glued to the screen, soaking in the carefully worded PR as her hand danced furiously across the paper, taking bulleted notes on everything she saw.

This would be the first time she’d seen Danial in over ten years—and this time, he wouldn’t forget her.

2. Newark International Airport, USA

2

NEWARK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, USA

Now