Chapter 6 - The Unbroken Horizon
Spring arrived in Ottawa six months later with a quiet, triumphant burst of color.
The tulips bloomed in brilliant shades of yellow, crimson, and purple along the Commissioners Park, the ice melted off the Rideau Canal, and the warm morning sun illuminated the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of my new, expanded corporate headquarters on Bank Street.
CARTER FORENSIC & FINANCIAL AUDITING GROUP.
The bold, brass lettering on the main reception wall gleamed under the recessed lights. My firm now employed eighteen full-time professionals, occupying an entire floor of the commercial building I had purchased outright three months prior.
I stood in my private office, adjusting the lapels of my tailored white blazer, looking out over the panoramic view of the city skyline.
A soft knock sounded at my door.
Sarah stepped inside, holding a crisp manila folder and a warm cup of Earl Grey tea.
"Good morning, Simone," Sarah smiled, setting the tea on my mahogany desk. "The preliminary audit files for the national transport contract are ready for your final review. And your eleven o'clock appointment is waiting in the executive lounge."
"Who is it?" I asked, taking a warm sip of tea.
"A young female entrepreneur from Toronto," Sarah replied, her eyes bright with enthusiasm. "She’s launching a technology startup, and she specifically requested that our firm handle her corporate structure and financial advisory."
"Why us?" I smiled.
"She said she wanted an auditor who knows how to protect a woman's vision from the very beginning," Sarah answered warmly. "She said she heard you were unbreakable."
I looked at my reflection in the dark glass of the office window.
The quiet, exhausted woman who had spent nine years holding a coffee pot while her mother-in-law insulted her ambition was gone, replaced by a leader whose strength was recognized across the entire country.
I picked up my pen, smoothed the lapels of my blazer, and walked toward the door.
May you like
"Tell her I'm ready, Sarah," I said, stepping into the bright, sunlit hallway of my company. "Let's make sure her foundation is built to last forever."
Behind me, sitting on my desk in the bright spring light, lay a fresh, pristine notebook—its pages clean, unburdened, and completely filled with the infinite promise of a life owned entirely by me.
