"Boss, what happened? Victoria's assistant just called saying you left."
"Change of plans. Cancel the LA meeting this afternoon. Book me on the next flight back to New York."
"But the $500 million..."
"Priya," his voice was gentle but firm, "I just got my answer. Book the flight."
Inside the lobby, Victoria smoothed her suit jacket and turned back to the German investors with a brilliant smile.
"I am so sorry about that interruption. You would not believe how many scammers try to crash these events."
The silver-haired German did not smile back. "Victoria, that seemed harsh."
"Harsh?" Victoria waved her hand dismissively. "Klaus, you have to be firm with these people, otherwise they think they can take advantage."
The other German was already standing, picking up his briefcase. "We should go. Our flight."
"But we haven't finished."
"We finished last week, Victoria," Klaus said coldly. "We told you no. We only stopped by to be polite."
They shook her hand quickly, professionally, and left.
Victoria stood alone in the lobby watching them go. A small frown crossed her face.
Then she shrugged, pulled out her phone, and texted her assistant. "That investor who just left, Cole something. Make sure his information is deleted from our system. Don't want his type thinking they can waste our time again."
She had no idea his type was the only investor still willing to consider saving her company.
And in less than three hours, she was going to find out exactly who Darien Cole was.
At 10:30 that morning, Victoria was back in her office on the 42nd floor. She had already forgotten about Darien Cole.
Her assistant, Jenny, knocked and entered holding a tablet. Her face looked pale.
"Ms. Ashford, I need to ask you something."
Victoria did not look up from her laptop. "Make it quick. I have a call with the board in 20 minutes."
"The man at the Four Seasons this morning, the one security escorted out."
"What about him?"
"You told me to delete his information from our system, but I wanted to confirm first. That was Darien Cole, right? From Cole Ventures."
Victoria's fingers stopped typing.
"Ms. Ashford," Jenny said, her voice shaking slightly, "did you Google him?"
Something cold formed in Victoria's stomach. "Why would I need to Google some random guy trying to crash my meeting?"
Jenny set the tablet on Victoria's desk. The screen showed a Forbes article with the headline, "Darien Cole, the Billionaire Investor You've Never Heard Of."
Victoria stared at the photo. Same face. Same calm expression. Same man she had thrown out of the hotel an hour earlier.
Her eyes scanned the article. At first the words blurred together, then snapped into focus.
Net worth: $3.8 billion. Cole Ventures: $3.8 billion in assets under management. Forbes 400 ranking: No. 184. Track record: 47 investments, 43 successful exits. Board roles with major technology companies.
Her hands started to shake. Actually shake, like she was holding something too heavy.
"Jenny," she said, her voice coming out hoarse, "tell me this is a different Darien Cole."
Jenny reached over and scrolled down. There was another photo, Darien at a technology conference standing next to Sundar Pichai. Another showed him shaking hands with Tim Cook. Another showed him on a panel at Davos.
In every photo, he wore casual clothes, polos, button-down shirts without ties, never a suit.
Victoria's throat closed up. She tried to swallow and could not.
"The meeting was confirmed three weeks ago," Jenny whispered. "I have the emails. He was coming to discuss Series C. Five hundred million dollars."