Don't avoid Voss. Don't seek him out. Don't discuss this with anyone. Another pause. And on Wednesday, I'm going to have Priya set up a department review meeting.
It'll look routine. You'll be asked to present operational cost analysis for Q3. The material you present will include the original submission files for the Henderson project. Marcus understood immediately. The real numbers in context in a format that doesn't look like an accusation.
Just the work. Your team's actual work. Her voice had something in it he hadn't heard before. Precision with heat underneath. I want them to see what was erased before they understand that they're looking at what was erased.
He was quiet for a moment. That's a good plan, he said. Don't sound surprised. I'm not surprised. I'm He searched for the word.
I'm realizing that I've been watching you for three years through the wrong glass. What does that mean? It means, he said carefully, that from where I sit in the building, you look like someone who has everything handled. Like the decisions come easy, like the pressure doesn't land. She made a sound, not quite a laugh.
Not quite. Not one. The decisions come easy. She said the cost of them doesn't. He thought about that about the way she'd stood at the window that morning.
About I haven't had a real conversation in a long time. Amelia, yes. Are you okay? The question sat in the air between them and he half expected the CEO to deflect it to redirect back to logistics and timelines and the Wednesday meeting. He'd asked it anyway because it was the real question, the one underneath all the other questions.
And Marcus Carter had spent enough of his life avoiding real questions to know what cost. She was quiet for long enough that he wondered if the call had dropped. Then she said, "I don't know. Ask me after Wednesday." "Okay," he said. After Wednesday, he could hear her breathing for a moment.
Even controlled, but thank you, she said, "For this morning, for she stopped, started again for not running out the door the second your shoes were in your hands." I thought about it. I know you did. This time the sound was definitely almost a laugh. Get some sleep this weekend. Marcus, you need it.