* Jana *
By the time the numbers went public, I was already three steps ahead.
The deal had gone through exactly as I wanted it to, too fast, too high, too loud. Lawrence thought he'd secured a prime acquisition at the perfect moment. I'd simply... tilted the board. A few well-placed whispers, an adjusted forecast here and there, and the market did what it always does, shifted like sand under a drunk man's feet.
Within forty-eight hours, the price dropped by almost a quarter. Lawrence's deal now looked like a cautionary tale in overspending. The investors weren't happy, and neither was his father. Perfect.
The Dankworth building had a certain sound when something went wrong, phones ringing longer before being answered, footsteps clipped and fast, conversations pitched too low to catch
