"So…and then I told her that she should completely just quit her job and go elsewhere. If I couldn't determine my own schedule, what's the point of being a millionaire!" he cried, laughing raucously, inundating me with a blast of his Scotch flavored breath. Everyone laughed in unison and I followed suit.

My stomach twisted as I swayed mentally between my need to flee immediately from this ridiculous group of people and the need to stay in order to make sure I was mingling for an appropriate amount of time. I couldn’t believe I’d agreed to this and yet I could. My new partner was a nice man, but obnoxious and very old fashioned. He was all about employee loyalty and networking with old contacts, which is why I’d allowed him a buy in. Not that he would actually get what he’d earned when I edged him out.

I was successful and young and I didn’t make it to where I was today by fighting fair. He’d opened our Seattle branch and brought it through to a $4M earning profit by the third quarter. He’d landed several deals and had stocked his staff with his colleagues and associates, whom were all loyal to him, which was why they were laughing at his stupid fucking jokes while I stood in their circle as an obvious outsider, clearly the stooge in their eyes. It's okay…they will all be replaced.

They probably saw me as some young wunderkind from New York that had no idea what I was doing. Little did they know that, unless my new partner performed a financial audit and discovered everything in the next few months, my accountant had already embezzled funds from his branch. Our yearly audit had been passed already, so I was free to continue for the next few months with no worry. And by this time next year, after the branch was sustainable at its current revenue, the discovery of what he’d done would emerge. He would take the fall and I would walk with his contacts and revenue. And he would probably go to jail, but that’s how business was done. He would be over and ruined. The plan was subtle and effective, but it was still making feel slightly guilty to stand so close to him, especially when he was happy. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t be doing this type of deal again. After him, of course.