The offices of Johnson & Associates—one of Aurelia's most aggressive boutique finance firms—felt like a pressure cooker. Catharine, a fresh Finance graduate with a GPA that could cut glass, had expected her first day to be a whirlwind of spreadsheets and analysis. She hadn't expected the blatant arrogance that seemed to be a prerequisite for the senior analysts.
In the mid-morning briefing, the lead analyst, a man named Henderson, was presenting a valuation model for a local manufacturing acquisition. Catharine sat at the back of the conference table, her eyes darting across the projected Excel sheet.
