The Shadow of the Sterling Board

The executive boardroom on the seventy-second floor was lined with rich mahogany paneling, oil portraits of Sterling Global’s founding partners, and floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the southern tip of Manhattan. Harrison Drake sat at the center of the conference table, surrounded by seven older institutional board members. At sixty-eight, Drake was an archetype of old Wall Street entitlement—impeccably groomed white hair, gold cufflinks, and a patronizing smirk that had cowed younger…