The Offer

The Apex Ventures office in San Francisco smelled like cold metal and fresh eucalyptus. June Chen-Lund walked into the forty-seventh-floor conference room at 9:15 a.m. wearing a black wool coat and the kind of calm that made assistants immediately offer her water. She declined with a small shake of her head.

Marcus Webb stood near the window, phone pressed to his ear, his free hand gesturing at something June could not see. He wore the same navy vest he had worn at the Series B closing, the one with the Apex logo stitched over the heart. When he saw her, he held up one finger and smiled. Not the polished investor smile. The other one. The one that meant a deal was already moving.