C - Suite

03 | Trap

"ONE JADE CITRUS tea for Nyla." The Barista passed her the cup and Nya thanked her before swiping her card.

She maneuvered around the cluster of people and settled into a table in the corner of the Starbucks. The place was bustling with people and there was a flurry of activity. Men, women, kids, they were all ordering and rushing out the store to get to where ever they needed to be.

Nyla took a sip out of her drink and frowned. It was a poor replacement for the jasmine tea she made at home every morning, but it would have to do for today. She pulled out her copy of the Wall Street journal and began reading. It was a waiting game now.

A few minutes later, the door open and a cold breeze gently swirled around Nyla. She shivered and looked up to see her target and smiled. She watched as his foot tapped on the shiny floors impatiently waiting to receive his drink—a decaf roast.

She continued watching as he moved around the shop before settling in the empty chair beside her. Nyla wanted to applaud her assistant Hyeon once more. She had been right. It seemed that Marcus Reed order the same drink everyday and sat in the exact same spot. OCD tendencies but who was Nyla to judge. Nyla looked over casually to her right just as Marcus opened the newspaper she'd been reading minutes ago.

"Chevron's gone down four percent," she commented casually. 

Marcus looked up to stare at her, his eyes seem to be saying who the hell is she?

With his full attention on her, Nyla continued. "I personally think that their stock is going to plunge sharply in the next few days."

"Well that's funny, investors all over Wall Street are trying their best to get as many shares as they can in that company."

Nyla shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her tea. "It's stupid, they should open their eyes and see for themselves. The company is a scandal waiting to happen—but then what would I know, I'm not a high-powered investment banker."

Marcus laughed, it was slow and deep. A sound that made Nyla want to hear him laugh more. "You're no investor but I would have come to the same conclusion you did."

Nyla smiled. This was easy, she'd already gotten him to lower his barriers a bit. "Well then Mr. Reed, I should be asking you which stocks I should invest it."

Marcus lowered his newspaper and turned his chair towards her. "Maybe you should make a few guesses and I'll tell you what I think."

Nyla began rattling off a few companies she'd been looking into for the last few days. When she was finished, Marcus slowly applauded his hands.

"Well, I don't know what you do, but you should try your hand at investment banking. You'd make millions."

Nyla laughed at the irony. "I'm too busy for that."

"Are you sure?" Marcus asked. "Because I have a golf tournament I'm playing in and I'd love to convince you to join my firm."

Jackpot. 

Nyla did her best not to look to interested but she added a teasing tone to her voice. "I'm not sure about joining your firm but I do have a multi-million-dollar idea that would spark your attention plus I play a mean game of golf."

Marcus' eyes glittered with happiness and he shook out his hand. "I guess it's a deal then. You can share your ideas with me there, I'll see you on the course Ms...?"

"Malhotra," Nyla finished, and they shook hands.

"Something about you looks familiar," Marcus began asking when they had finished exchanging information about the upcoming business meeting.