The Sloane townhouse had rules no one wrote down, because they didn’t have to. Don’t contradict Victoria. Don’t bring problems to the table—bring solutions. And if you are Evan Locke, live-in son-in-law, don’t pretend your opinion carries the same weight as the family name embossed on the silverware.Dinner smelled like rosemary and roasted chicken and a kind of polished tension that made the napkins feel starched even when they weren’t. Victoria Sloane sat at the head, as always, eyes bright and cool. Aiden, Lena’s brother and CFO of Sloane Dynamics, scrolled his phone with the careful, ostentatious frown of a man deciding whether to panic now or later. Maris, youngest of the siblings, ran a fingertip around the rim of her wineglass and tried to smile at everyone at once.Evan carved the chicken because someone had to, and because the knives were as sharp as Victoria’s glance. He made a point of giving Lena the crispiest wing. That earned him a secret smile from her; he banked it lik

By morning, everyone at Sloane still smelled faintly like the pallet yard fire. The whole office had that crisp, brittle quiet of people trying to talk softly around bad news. Lena set up a war room in a glass conference cube, whiteboards blooming with arrows and dates. Aiden paced a groove into the carpet. Maris brought in a tray of muffins she clearly hadn’t slept to bake.Then Logistics called with the kind of voice that makes you stop pretending to be calm.“Terminal Twelve just put holds on our boxes,” the head of logistics, Dale, said. “Twenty-eight containers. The system shows ‘random inspection,’ but Customs says they didn’t flag it. Trucks are getting turned away.”“Who flagged it?” Lena asked.“Terminal ops says ‘safety review.’ That’s code for: someone on the union side told them to slow-walk us.”Aiden pinched the bridge of his nose. “We miss these deliveries and penalties kick in. The hospital order alone—”“—is a promise we made,” Lena finished. “We get those boxes.”Vic

The email hit at 8:04 a.m., boxed in lawyer font and menace.Notice of Cash Dominion Activation. Borrower in breach of Section 6.02(a) (Minimum EBITDA). Effective immediately, Caldwell First will initiate daily sweeps of all collected cash. Please direct all payors to the Lockbox Account referenced in Annex B.Aiden read it twice, then a third time in case that turned it into a different email. “They’re sweeping,” he said, voice high and flat. “We’re done.”Lena took the printout and scanned the paragraphs like she could find a hidden door. General counsel Jasper leaned over her shoulder with a legal pad and a pencil that had bitten marks down the side. Victoria stood at the window and watched the city as if it were a chessboard that had moved without her consent.“Section 6.02,” Jasper murmured. “They’re calling a trip on the EBITDA covenant and the borrowing base deficiency.”Maris slid in with coffee and the kind of muffin that tried to be hopeful. “Tell me that email is about a fl