~Narrator’s~

“Cuss Enterprises has no comment on speculative nonsense,” Reo says, clipped, in an effort to quiet the cacophony of voices.

But the room doesn’t quiet.

Dozens of cameras flash like lightning. Journalists crowd the front rows, eyes hungry, pens dancing. The press conference room inside the downtown Cuss Tower feels like a ticking bomb. The walls are glass, but today they might as well be ice.

The allegations came overnight; anonymous leaks hinting at insider trading involving high-level executives. Someone within the company, they say, used sensitive corporate developments to rig stock surges and shortfalls. And now the empire is wobbling.

Reo is standing at the podium, wearing his...