chapter 3

Sophia

I barely slept. Everytime I closed my eyes, I pictured the image of my father collapsing. Everytime I drifted, the crushing weigh of impending disaster happening around jerked me awake.

I gave up on sleep entirely, the hospital room was quiet, dad was still asleep.

For the first time in a long time, he looked peaceful.

I wished I could say the same for myself, but the email from the office sat heavily in my mind. Several clients wanted answers. Rumors were spreading. And Dad wasn't in any condition to deal with any of it.

Bennett Accounting fell entirely on my shoulders. I wasn't an executive, I wasn't a partner, I wasn't even involved in the management side of the company.

I worked there, yes. But there was a huge difference between working for a company and carrying it's weight on your shoulders.

Yet life rarely asked whether you were ready. It simply pushed you forward.

Ethan arrived carrying breakfast. The moment he saw my face, he frowned.

"You didn't sleep?"

"I did."

We both stared at each other at the same time for a while.

"You're a terrible liar." He said dropping the tray of food he was carrying.

"Good morning to you too." I teased.

A brief, tired laugh escaped him. For a moment, the tension hanging over us eased.

Then my phone vibrated. The name on the screen made my heart race.

‘DerekLawson’.

I answered immediately.

"Good morning."

There was no greeting on the other end.

“We have a problem” Derek said sounding exhausted.

My pulse quickened “what happened?”

“Two clients pulled out this morning”.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Already?

The market moved fast, faster than most people realized. Business survived on confidence. The moment confidence disappeared, everything else followed.

“I'm on my way."

"You need to get here quickly." The call ended before I could say any other thing.

I stared at the screen for several seconds, thinking about how bad the whole situation is.

Ethan didn't need an explanation.

He had already seen my face.

“Bad?"

"Worse."

He exhaled slowly. "Go."

I looked toward Dad, guilt hit immediately.

"I think I should stay."

"No." Ethan cut in, shaking his head firmly. "I'll stay with him."

"What if he wakes up?"

"Sophia." His voice softened. "Dad built that company for over twenty years."

"You know he'd want someone there."

I hated the fact he was right.

An hour later, I stepped into Bennett Accounting.

The difference between yesterday and today was impossible to miss.

Yesterday people looked worried. Today they looked frightened. Entire conversations stopped when I walked past.

Employees exchanged glances. Whispers followed me through the office.

The atmosphere felt like a building waiting for a fire alarm.

Nobody knew what was happening, which only made everything worse.

Derek was already waiting when I entered the conference room.

He looked as though he hadn't slept either.

Three empty coffee cups sat beside him.

A pile of paperwork covered the table.

His tie was gone, his patience looked gone too.

The moment I sat down, he pushed a folder toward me. "Read it."

I opened it, I froze as I saw what the folder contained.

Client termination notices. Three of them. Three major accounts. Gone just like that.

A cold feeling spread through my chest. "How bad is it?"

Derek laughed humorlessly. "The fact you're asking that tells me you don't understand how serious this is."

The words stung, not because they were cruel, but because they were true.

I kept reading. Every page seemed worse than the last.

Concerned about company stability. Lack of confidence. Potential financial misconduct. Different rumors from people.

One missing eight hundred thousand pounds had somehow become a hundred different stories.

And every story was costing us money.

I closed the folder. "What do we do?"

Derek studied me for a moment, then leaned back. "We survive."

It wasn't reassuring at all.

The rest of the morning disappeared into meetings, phone calls, damage control, reassurances, apologies, and promises.

By lunchtime, my head was pounding.

Every conversation seemed to end the same way.

People wanted answers. Unfortunately, we didn't have any.

I finally escaped to the break room, because I was desperately in need of coffee and silence.

The coffee machine was halfway through filling my cup when Claire entered, looking very nervous.

"Is everything okay?"

She hesitated, then shook her head.

No."

"What happened?"

"There's someone here to see Mr. Bennett." Claire said with a frightened look.

I frowned. "Dad's in the hospital."

"I know."

"Then who is it?"

Her expression shifted, almost uncertain. Like she wasn't sure how to explain.

Finally she said, "They're from Hart Global."

At first, the name meant nothing, but then I remembered the email regarding our upcoming partnership talks. They were a massive industry titan, recognized as one of the most powerful corporations in the country.

"What do they want?"

"They wouldn't say."

A strange un-ease feeling settled inside me. For a moment Everything around me seemed to fade.

The sense that something important had just entered the story.

I couldn't explain it, I just felt it.

Claire glanced toward the door. "They're waiting in the boardroom."

I looked down at my untouched coffee, then toward the hallway.

Somewhere beyond those walls sat representatives from one of London's most influential companies waiting for my father. Instead, they were about to face me. I set my coffee down as a sudden wave of nerves took my appetite.

For some reason I can't explain, I knew that walking into that boardroom would change everything forever.