Karen Stern was no stranger to the cutthroat world of high-end business. In the early days of establishing her department store empire, she had faced down aggressive competitors, difficult zoning laws, and supply chain nightmares. If there was one thing Karen was known for, it was her lack of hesitation. She was a woman who spoke her mind with a razor-sharp tongue and firmly believed that there wasn't a problem in the world that couldn't be solved by throwing a sufficient amount of Stern money at it.
She had initially figured that the "incident" involving her VIP customers was just a security lapse—a localized fire she could extinguish with a few payouts and a change in guard staff. But as she watched the head employee fidget, rubbing her hands together in a nervous, repetitive motion, Karen realized this was only the tip of a very large, very cold iceberg.
