Chapter 10 - The Horizon AheadSix months later, the front page of the Wall Street Journal financial section featured a sprawling, unexpected headline:
NORTHSTAR FREIGHT ANNOUNCES RECORD GROWTH; FOUNDER ESTABLISHES 100-MILLION-DOLLAR WORKER WELFARE INITIATIVE.
Beneath the bold print was a photograph of Grant Mercer standing in a bustling New York distribution center. He wasn't wearing a tailored Italian suit. He wore a simple warehouse vest, his sleeves rolled up, laughing alongside a row of logistics workers and temporary staff members.
Across town, in a federal holding facility, Celeste Vance sat in a sterile visiting room, her emerald gowns and diamond jewelry replaced by a standard orange jumpsuit, staring blankly at a wall that offered no reflection of her carefully engineered lies.
Back in Queens, at the Northstar headquarters, the top drawer of Grant’s mahogany desk remained filled with more candy than business files.
And on his desk, resting right beside his computer monitor, stood a small yellow plastic truck and a tiny, unbreakable glass bird.
Grant sat back in his leather chair, looking out the massive glass window toward the Manhattan skyline as the sun began to rise. He didn't care about elite society galas, fake pedigrees, or corporate espionage anymore.
He had learned the ultimate business lesson:
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You can build an empire on deception, but you can only survive on truth.
And as his phone buzzed with a message from Marcus regarding the new worker-first logistics expansion, Grant smiled, picked up his pen, and got to work.
