***
A decade after Jim Dixon’s fall from grace, after the events that burnt his career on Wall Street, his past is catching up to him. Zurich had been the perfect place for a fresh start, a place where he could be a big fish in a small pond. The secretive world of Swiss high finance, a world of deception, greed, and excess, where everyone lies for one or another reason, provided the perfect cover. Until she showed up.
Meeting the socialite daughter of his former client was just a courtesy, nothing more. Another spoiled princess looking for VIP tickets to the opera, or a private shopping session at Louis Vuitton. So he thought. But Christina Rosenbaum was not the typical second generation heiress. This was the meeting that would set it all in motion.
Caught between unscrupulous bankers, hedge fund managers, organized crime, state actors, and law enforcement, Jim is left with no choice. One way or another, it will be over before the end of the week. This week would see careers destroyed, lives lost, and fortunes made.
***
***
Extract
THE CLIENT
“Ms. Rosenbaum is in the meeting room,” she said. “Been waiting half an hour.”
The coat was building a puddle on the carpet. The shoes had been polished an hour ago, whatever good that had done. Ten years in Switzerland and I was still unprepared for the November weather.
“Twenty minutes early. She can marinate a few more.”
I uttered a curse under my breath. With the soaked trench coat secured on its hanger, I had once more forgotten how the local hats seemed to be designed as rain barrels. Not quite a fedora, not quite not a fedora. You didn’t stand out if you wore one in Europe, not in this part of Europe. Now it had left an unmistakable wet patch on the chest of my jacket and the white shirt under it, and there wasn’t time to do a thing about it.
“She got coffee?” I asked, looking at the watch on my wrist. My favorite watch. The only one that actually mattered.
“Three cups. Should be bouncing off the walls. You need one, Jim?” she asked.
“No. No thanks, Sandra,” I said. She had been here early. Then again, she was always here early. Dependable, much like the timepiece on my wrist. She had been with me since I crossed the pond all those years ago. Not sure how I would have made it without her.
“What’s she like?” I asked.
“Oh, right up your alley,” she said. “Try not to give the store away, will you?”
“No promises. Say, be a good girl and interrupt us in ten.”
“Behave in there!”
“No promises.”
I heard the keys hammering away. She was already ignoring me, whether actually busy or pretending to be. Outside the meeting room, I stopped to straighten my tie, only to find none. I hadn’t worn one since I got here. Old habits.
A double knock on the door and I swung it open. There she was. That was the first time I laid my eyes on her. If I had been warned, if I had been told what would come of this, what this week would bring. If I could have understood just what this very meeting would set in motion and the consequences of it, I still wouldn’t have done anything differently. She simply took my breath away.
I had stopped dead in my tracks and I was staring and she saw it. Couldn’t have been more than twenty-five. If that. Sitting there, in that sky-blue Thierry Mugler outfit, her knees together and gracefully tilted to the left. The deep-cut blazer jacket immaculately form fitted and flowing effortlessly down over the matching skirt, separated only by a matte silver-tone waist chain.
The shade of blue perfectly matched her eyes just as the manicured fingernails were in the exact same blood-red shade as her lipstick. She rose to her feet slowly and with the grace of a gazelle, brushed back that long straight dark hair behind her shoulder and extended that hand toward me. She was tall and slender and with the kind of smile men would kill for and if she spoke I hadn’t registered it.
Thank you
***
About the author
ANDREAS F. CLENOW Andreas Clenow is a Swedish Swiss author, asset manager and entrepreneur based in Zurich, where he oversees investment strategies of a nine-figure portfolio.
After running his own IT firm in Sweden, he founded his first hedge fund in 2006 in quantitative finance and moved to Zurich. Since he has been part of a number of hedge funds and ventures, and he is serving on the board of directors of multiple companies.
Over the years, Andreas has authored three international best-sellers on finance, each hitting the number one slot on their respective Amazon top lists, and he is translated into eight languages.
***
Author Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/clenow
***
***
Book Link
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Most-Private-Bank-murder-hidden-ebook/dp/B09NKYYMF2/
:
B for Bookreview 