270 Park Avenue, New York City
The skyline shimmered through the wide windows of the top floor of 270 Park Avenue. The light of the late morning sun filtered in, glinting off polished marble and the smooth black finish of the executive desk that occupied the center of the vast office.
Behind it sat Jamie Whitlock, CEO of J.P. Morgan, flipping through quarterly reports with an expression of calm satisfaction.
It had been a good week—no, an exceptional week.
For once, the global financial press wasn't circling them like hawks. Instead, their tone had shifted from suspicion to admiration.
The company's stock had jumped forty percent in three days after rumors surfaced that J.P. Morgan had secretly backed Nova Technologies, the mysterious firm behind Lucid.
The rally had stabilized at ten percent, but that was enough to make the board ecstatic and the shareholders worshipful.
