**Julian’s POV**
The numbers swam before my eyes on the monitor: $400 million. That was the estimated worth of my company. That was the initial stock price. That was my ticket out, the way to pay off the massive debt I'd saddled Sterling Industries with.
I was sitting in my office, the glittering Manhattan skyline on the other side of the glass seeming to laugh at my situation. It was 3:15 in the morning. I took a sip of scotch that was no longer cold, and scrolled through the digital version of the S-1 filing – the document you file with the government before offering stock for sale to the public.
My eyes landed on the section titled Leadership & Governance. There was a picture of me looking straight into the camera. I was smiling, attempting to seem confident, trustworthy – a big name
