{"id":23193,"date":"2025-12-08T20:56:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=23193"},"modified":"2025-12-08T20:56:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:56:43","slug":"23193","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=23193","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"46\">The next morning, the sun rose over the city of San Francisco, glinting off the glass towers of the financial district.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"47\">Mark woke up in the guest room of the penthouse\u2014he hadn\u2019t wanted to sleep in the same bed as me for months anyway. He felt fantastic. He stretched, feeling the lightness of a man who had just shed a heavy burden.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"48\">He showered, shaving carefully. He selected his most expensive suit, a navy Brioni. Today was going to be a great day. He planned to walk into the office, announce his divorce, and then introduce Chloe as his official partner. He was the King of Vance Global, and his reign was just beginning.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"49\">He drove his company-leased Aston Martin to the headquarters. He blasted music, speeding down the highway. He imagined the looks of envy from his colleagues when they realized he was single and powerful.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"50\">He pulled into the underground executive garage. He drove to his reserved spot, right next to the elevator.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"51\">There was a cone in it.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"52\">Mark frowned. He honked his horn. The parking attendant, an old man named Jerry who usually waved at him, was nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"53\">\u201cIncompetent idiots,\u201d Mark muttered. He parked in a visitor spot three rows back. \u201cI\u2019ll fire Jerry later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"54\">He grabbed his briefcase and walked to the private executive elevator. This elevator went straight to the 50th floor, the C-Suite. It required a special black key card.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"55\">Mark approached the scanner. He tapped his card.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"55\"><a href=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=23194\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-19433\" src=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/BUTTONI-USA-2-e1742767963719-1536x885-1-300x173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"173\" srcset=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/BUTTONI-USA-2-e1742767963719-1536x885-1-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/BUTTONI-USA-2-e1742767963719-1536x885-1-1024x590.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/BUTTONI-USA-2-e1742767963719-1536x885-1-768x443.jpg 768w, https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/BUTTONI-USA-2-e1742767963719-1536x885-1.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_23193\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only  \" data-element-id=\"23193\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The next morning, the sun rose over the city of San Francisco, glinting off the glass towers of the financial district. Mark woke up in the guest room of the penthouse\u2014he hadn\u2019t wanted to sleep in the same bed as me for months anyway. He felt fantastic. He stretched, feeling the lightness of a man&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/?p=23193\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_23193\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only  \" data-element-id=\"23193\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":331,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23216,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23193\/revisions\/23216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readmore.cx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}