Chapter 4 - The Morning After
The next morning broke gray and bleak, the lingering storm leaving behind puddles of freezing slush across the sidewalks of the city.
Leo woke up at 6:00 AM in his cramped, drafty apartment on the third floor of a rundown brick building near the rail yards. His bones ached from the double shift, and his stomach rumbled a sharp reminder that he had given away his last five dollars for a stranger’s soup.
He walked into the tiny kitchen, pulling open the refrigerator. Inside sat half a carton of milk, a tub of margarine, and a nearly empty box of generic cereal. No bread. No eggs.
Figures, Leo thought with a tired sigh, pouring a splash of milk over a meager bowl of dry flakes. At least I have my health.
He finished breakfast quickly, grabbed his heavy canvas backpack filled with economics textbooks, and hurried out the door to catch the 7:15 bus to campus. As he stepped out onto the sidewalk, a sleek, midnight-black Lincoln Navigator idling by the curb caught his eye. It was an obscenely expensive vehicle for this neighborhood, its tinted windows reflecting the gray morning light.
Leo didn't think much of it, assuming it was just another lost executive from downtown taking a wrong turn off the expressway, and rushed toward the bus stop.
Ten minutes later, he arrived at the university campus, weaving his way through the bustling brick courtyards toward the administrative economics building. The air was crisp, smelling of wet asphalt and fallen leaves.
As he climbed the wide stone steps of the lecture hall, a sharp, unfamiliar voice called out from behind him.
"Excuse me. Are you Leo Vance?"
Leo stopped, turning around on the landing. Standing at the bottom of the steps was a woman in her late thirties, wearing an immaculate charcoal pantsuit, silver-rimmed glasses, and holding a thick leather portfolio. She looked like she had stepped straight out of a Wall Street boardroom and taken a wrong turn into academia.
"Yeah, I'm Leo," he answered cautiously, shifting his backpack on his shoulder. "Can I help you?"
The woman offered a polite, professional smile, though her eyes were sharp and deeply analytical. "My name is Victoria Sterling. I am the general counsel for Sterling-Vance Global Enterprises. I’ve been looking for you all morning."
May you like
Leo stared at her, completely baffled. "Sterling-Vance? Look, I think you have the wrong guy. I’m just a student. I work at a diner downtown. I don't know anything about corporate law or... whatever it is you do."
Victoria chuckled softly, stepping up the stone stairs until she stood two feet away. "I assure you, Mr. Vance, I have the exact right person. And you’d be surprised how much you are about to learn."
