Cash Back Tycoon: Spend Big, Earn Bigger

The woman who came for a deal

The hotel's accounts were frozen at 11:52 that night, exactly eight minutes after Ethan had shut off the Whitmore engagement party.

Alden Pryce delivered the news in the executive office on the forty-first floor, and he stood stiff-backed, like one who had just been sentenced. A lone printed notice shook in his hand.

"First Meridian Bank holds every operating account the Grand Regency owns, sir. They have cited irregularities in the ownership transfer, and they have suspended all withdrawals until further review."

"Who owns First Meridian?" Ethan asked.

"A holding company," Dana Frost said from the leather sofa, not looking up from her tablet. "Which is controlled by the Whitmore Group through two intermediate shells. Victor did not waste any time."

Marcus, who had fallen asleep in an armchair an hour earlier, jerked at the sound of the name. "What does that mean for the hotel?"

"It means that four hundred and twelve employees are due to be paid by noon tomorrow," Pryce said quietly. "The payroll is six hundred and forty thousand dollars, and we cannot touch a single cent of it. If the staff does not receive their wages, they will walk out, and a hotel without staff loses its operating license within a week."

Ethan stared at the dark window. Only five hours ago he had been a man with a dollar and seventy cents. Now a hostile bank was trying to strangle his newest asset before it had finished its first night.

"What do I have that the Whitmores cannot reach?" He asked.

Dana turned her tablet around. "My forensic team went through the Armani store this evening. The operating account sits at Crown Credit Union, which has no ties to Victor. It holds three million four hundred thousand dollars in cash."

"That is enough for the payroll."

"It is enough for the payroll and nothing else," Dana said. "Victor will move against every other property you touch. This is only the first round."

Before Ethan could answer, the office door opened without a knock.

A woman in a black evening dress walked in as if the room belonged to her. Two bodyguards in dark suits stopped at the threshold behind her, and Pryce half rose from his chair.

"Ma'am, this is a private office. You cannot..."

"Let her in," Ethan said, because he had recognized the cold, composed face from the mezzanine.

She crossed the carpet with unhurried steps and stopped three feet from his desk. Her dark hair was pinned back with perfect precision, and her eyes studied him the way a surgeon studies an X-ray.

"Yvonne Sinclair," she said. "I am the chief executive of Sinclair Dynamics."

Pryce coughed in surprise. Sinclair Dynamics was one of the largest logistics and technology companies in the country, and its glass tower dominated the harbor skyline.

"Ethan Vance," he said, and he gestured to the empty chair. "I assume you did not come at midnight to compliment my party."

"I came to ask whether it was a coincidence." She remained standing. "At eleven forty tonight, Victor Whitmore's bank froze my company's credit lines. Eight minutes later, the same bank froze yours. In between those two moments, you humiliated his son in front of three hundred people."

"The bank came after the party," Ethan said. "I did not plan any of it."

"Then you are either very lucky or very dangerous." Her voice remained level, but a small flicker of interest crossed her features. "I have not decided which."

"What does Victor want from your company?"

"Everything." She sat at last, and she folded her hands over her knee. "My late father built Sinclair Dynamics from one truck. Victor has spent two years buying shares through shell companies, and he now controls forty-four percent. He needs a majority, and he has found a way to get it."

Dana leaned forward. "The loan covenant."

Yvonne's gaze sharpened. "You know about it."

"I know how this pattern works," Dana said. "He has called a loan, manufactured a technical default, and used the default to justify an emergency board vote."

"One hundred and eighty million dollars," Yvonne said. "First Meridian holds the debt, and the covenant requires me to deposit a five-million-dollar reserve by noon tomorrow. My accounts are frozen, so I cannot do it. If I miss the deadline, the bank calls the entire loan, the board declares an emergency. Victor's puppet on the board votes me out of my own company."

The room fell silent.

Marcus raised a hand like a schoolboy. "Why not borrow the money from another bank?"

"Because every bank in this city lends against Victor Whitmore's goodwill," Yvonne said, and for the first time a bitter edge touched her voice. "He has made sure of that."

Ethan understood now why she had come in person. She had no allies left, and her last hope had turned out to be the man who had walked into a ballroom and refused to bow.

"You want five million dollars," he said.

"I want a partner who will not be afraid of Victor." She met his eyes without blinking. "I do not trust strangers, Mr. Vance. I did not become chief executive at thirty-one by handing my company to people I met an hour ago. But I watched you tonight, and you looked at Victor as if he were only a man."

"He is only a man."

"That is the first sensible thing anyone has said about him in years." She drew a slim black card from her clutch and set it on the desk. "If you can secure the reserve by noon, I will give you a seat on my board and a share of the recovery. If you cannot, I will lose everything, and you will have wasted a night."

Ethan took the card without hesitation. "I will be there."

"You have three million four hundred thousand dollars, and I need five million," Yvonne said, and he understood that she had read their conversation through the open door. "I do not know what trick you have in mind, but I hope it is a good one."

She rose and walked toward the exit. Her bodyguards stepped aside, and then her phone buzzed against her palm.

She glanced at the screen, and her composure cracked for the first time that night.

"Victor has moved the emergency board meeting forward," she said, and her voice dropped to nearly a whisper. "It is no longer scheduled for Monday. He has called it for noon tomorrow."

Dana swore under her breath. Pryce went pale. Marcus looked from face to face, trying to understand.

Yvonne turned back to Ethan, and she did not need to say what everyone was already thinking.

The blue panel opened silently in the corner of Ethan's vision, and he read it twice.

[ Ding! ]

[ Harem Matrix update: Yvonne Sinclair, Affection Level 3. Status: Intrigued. ]

[ Warning: Hostile financial pressure detected. A new objective is available. ]

[ Objective: Cure the Sinclair Dynamics covenant default before noon. Reward: capital injection multiplier. ]

Ethan looked up at the woman in the doorway and made a decision.

"Ms. Sinclair," he said. "Save me a seat at that table."