Chapter 4 - The Walk Down 4th Street
The autumn wind had picked up again by 1:15 PM, driving dry leaves across the pavement of 4th Street in frantic, swirling eddies.
Emily Carter sat on a wooden park bench two blocks away from the diner, her knees pulled up to her chest, her canvas jacket zipped tight against the chill. She held a lukewarm paper cup of tea she had bought at a bodega using her last remaining crumpled five-dollar bill.
She was numb. The shock of being fired over a four-dollar short tab and a turkey sandwich had worn off, replaced by the crushing, suffocating reality of her apartment rent, her mother’s upcoming physical therapy bills, and the sheer impossibility of finding a new job in a city that chewed up young people and spat them out without a second thought.
What am I going to do? she thought, staring down at the dark amber liquid in her cup. Send out fifty resumes tonight? Work nights at a warehouse? Move back home in defeat?
A sleek, midnight-black Mercedes Maybach pulled up to the curb beside the park bench. It didn't sound like a standard city cab; it hummed with the silent, expensive purr of a twelve-cylinder engine.
The rear passenger door swung open with a pneumatic hiss.
Stepping out onto the concrete was a man in his late thirties wearing a bespoke charcoal suit, a silk tie, and a face that had turned the translucent, sickly color of skim milk. It was Marcus Vance. His hair was slightly disheveled, his breathing came in short, ragged gasps, and he looked around the gritty neighborhood as if he had just been dropped onto an alien planet.
Marcus slammed the car door shut, adjusted his cuffs with trembling fingers, and began marching down the sidewalk toward The Daily Grind.
May you like
Emily watched him from her bench, her brow furrowing. Isn't that the executive VP of Bennett-Vance Logistics? The guy whose face is on the cover of Forbes every six months? What is he doing on 4th Street?
Curiosity overriding her misery, Emily stood up from the bench, shoved her hands into her pockets, and began walking slowly down the sidewalk, keeping a safe distance behind the frantic executive.
