7:00 p.m.
Lower Manhattan, Monarch Club.
This private club, housed in a 19th-century bank building on William Street, was one of Wall Street's most secretive social playgrounds for the rich and powerful.
It now belonged to the Tang Jin Family Office.
Beyond the floor-to-ceiling arched windows lay the dark, unfathomable East River and the distant Brooklyn Bridge.
Amid the driving wind and snow, the Statue of Liberty flickered in and out of view.
Lin Mu Xue sat on the sofa, holding a specially mixed cocktail.
Sitting across from her was Sarah.
Because of Tang Song and Director Jin's private itinerary, she and Shen Yuyan, the two assistants, had unexpectedly found themselves with a rare day of leisure.
After wrapping up the tedious work of summarizing and filing meeting records, they had come here at Sarah's enthusiastic invitation.
"Cheers!" Lin Mu Xue raised her glass and took a sip.
The spicy liquid slid down her throat, stirring up a wave of warmth.
She gently swirled the drink in her glass, watching the hazy play of refracted light with a relieved smile on her face.
It was over. She had finally endured it.
According to Sarah, Director Jin would leave New York tomorrow and fly to London.
The thing she had feared most, the thing that had kept her on edge, had not happened.
That lofty Director Jin seemed to have truly forgotten about a nobody like her.
Other than assigning her some slightly challenging document work, there had been no real assessment or warning.
Of course. She was Jin Buxiang, the woman who controlled a trillion-dollar empire. Why would she have time to fuss over someone like her?
She had safely made it ashore!
Emperor Mu Xue was in high spirits.
Then the alcohol started going to her head, and certain