Page 1 of See You at the Sunset

Prologue

Yesterday

9:00 a.m.

Henry Shin was having a very good day.

It was a gorgeous June morning in New York. Not too hot just yet, humidity at bay, and the greens at Bethpage Black, one of the most exclusive golf courses in the tri-state area, were, as expected, perfect. Henry was playing one of his best rounds of golf in a very long time. One thing was for certain, he always stepped up when the pressure was on.

And the pressure was heavy for him to impress today. He’d been invited by the CEO of Bakerson’s Group, Eli Bakerson himself, to join their four-man along with the chief of staff, Edison Wainwright, and Henry’s direct boss, general counsel of the company, Steven Sword. The message was clear: You’re one of us now. Or, at least, you will be.

If Henry was the type to partake in office gossip, he mighthave heard the rumors and worried that being invited as a fourth on this weekly golf game meant something shady was afoot and a fall guy was needed to be suckered into the mix. But Henry never interacted with his coworkers. And though he knew the lore, he wasn’t worried. He was exactly where he wanted to be.

The entire vibe of the day screamed money and power and prestige beyond anything Henry could dream of. No, that was a lie. Henry dreamed of this very thing regularly. It’s why he worked so hard. It’s why he had no life outside of work and no other motivation than the ambition to succeed. The youngest senior counsel, the only person of color on the leadership team, and now playing golf on a Sunday with the bigwigs. He had done this. He was the one who’d gotten himself here.

Henry covered his mouth with his hand to not let the smile show through.Play it cool, Shin.

“I stand corrected, Henry. The 3-wood was absolutely the right choice for this one. I’m gonna be taking your advice both in the office and outside of it from now on, son.” Eli Bakerson chuckled, patting Henry on the back. Henry smiled, trying not to stiffen at the use of the endearment.

It was not a word he was used to hearing.

But he allowed it to roll over him just for a moment. Because it signified he was in the inner circle now. He’d passed an unspoken test. And now he belonged.

And that was the only thing that mattered.

“Shin, a word,” his boss said, nodding his head off to the right. Henry followed him the few yards away from gameplay.

“Yes, sir?”

“There’s something we need you to take care of tomorrow morning. And we need it done—” Steven Sword lowered hisvoice “—discreetly, without any loose ends. We trust you can handle it.”

“Of course I’ll take care of it,” Henry replied. And there it was: the ask. Whatever it was, he’d figure out how to do what needed to be done. That was his job. Find a way within the structure of the law, pushing its limits if necessary, to protect the company. And it’s what Henry did best.

“We are more than confident that you will. Details in your secure inbox. Oh, and make sure you join us at ten for the executive meeting. You should definitely be involved in those from now on, son.”

There was that word again. If Henry was going to keep climbing this ladder, he’d have to get used to the sound of it, he supposed.

Especially if he was going to get to the top and stay there.

2:00 p.m.

Jia Chung had always been a firm believer in work–life balance. She wasn’t the type to be chained to her email on the weekends. Work ended at six on Friday evening and started back up again at nine on Monday morning—nine thirty if the weekend had been especially good. Life was too short to put work first.

But her new job was more demanding than her previous ones. The expectations a little harsher. A lot was riding on her keeping her job... for once. Thus, when she was sent agentle reminderthat she needed to be available on weekends for emergencies, she turned off Silent mode for her notifications and opened her email whenever her phone alerted.

She could not fuck up again.

Which meant, of course, her phone notified her of a message on a perfect Sunday afternoon. She begrudgingly, but without hesitation, opened it.

From: Genevieve Gordon

To: Jia Chung

Subject: Monday 10:00 a.m.

Hey Jia, just following up with an email. I sent you a calendar invite for a meeting tomorrow. Sorry about the short notice. Just need to discuss something that can’t wait. Can you either accept the invite or reply to this email as confirmation you will be in attendance?

Thanks,