The elevator doors hissed open. Elena stepped out. She looked different. The waitress uniform was gone, replaced by a pair of jeans and a leather jacket she had dug out of the back of her closet.
Her hair was down cascading over her shoulders in dark waves. But the biggest change was in her eyes. The difference of the service industry was gone. The predator was back.
"You look like hell," Marcus said, turning to face her. He didn't smile, but his eyes were warm. It's been a long 3 years, Marcus, Elena replied, walking over to the leather armchairs and sitting down without asking. She didn't look at the view.
She had seen it a thousand times before. "I heard about what happened at The Obsidian," Marcus said, sitting opposite her. News travels fast. Julian Thorne making a scene.
That's Tuesday. But a waitress embarrassing him on a complex LBO structure. That's news. My phone started buzzing 10 minutes ago.
He's going to buy Kensington Steel, Elena said, skipping the pleasantries. He's ignoring the EPA clause. Or rather, he's going to try to bury it. Marcus nodded slowly.
That sounds like Julian. He's overleveraged on his last two deals. If he pulls out of Kensington now, the break fees will [ __ ] his liquidity. He has to buy it.
He's betting he can bribe the zoning commission or flip the land to some unsuspecting pension fund before the soil reports go public. He's going to defraud investors, Elena said. Again? And you want to stop him?
No. Elena looked up her expression cold. I don't want to stop him. I want to let him hang himself and then I want to kick the chair.
Marcus took a sip of his drink. He studied her for a moment. He remembered when he first hired her fresh out of Wharton. She was a prodigy.
She could see patterns in the market that algorithms missed. She had made Sterling Capital billions before the stress and the toxicity of the industry broke her spirit. She had left to find real life to serve coffee and talk to normal people. But Julian Thorne had reminded her that real life was just as cruel as Wall Street, only with worse pay.
"I have a plan," Elena said. "But I need capital, and I need a cover." You have the capital, Marcus said effortlessly. Your equity share from your time here is still in the trust. You have roughly $12 million in liquid assets, Elena.