What else would I say? She was quiet for a moment. Some people would be unsettled by having their relationship to a CEO scrutinized by a board of directors. Some people would, he said, but I've been scrutinized for things I didn't do for 12 years. Being scrutinized for something that's actually true is considerably less stressful.
She looked at him and for a second the thing he'd seen on Friday morning in her apartment, the person without the armor appeared briefly in this restaurant light, real and unguarded and almost in that half second, something he couldn't look at too directly without feeling it land somewhere deeper than was professionally advisable. Then she looked away. Paul Reyes, she said, I want to make sure he's protected. His statement is already in the record. Marcus said he documented what he saw before anyone could tell him, what he was supposed to to have seen.
That makes him a witness, not an instigator. I'll have legal reach out to him directly. Offer company funded counsel if he wants it. She paused. He came to you first.
He's 28 and he was scared. He did the right thing anyway. Yes, Marcus said. He did. Something crossed her face, then brief, complicated.
The expressions of someone thinking about a version of themselves a long time ago, doing a thing they were scared of because the alternative was worse. "Get me through this audit," she said quietly, almost to herself. "And then we're going to change some things about how this company handles information." Marcus looked at her. "Dana Reyes," he said. Her eyes came to him.
The woman who flagged the Meridian compliance issue moved to a satellite office 4 months later. He said it evenly. No accusation. Whatever you to do about the information flow, start there. She was very still.
You've been carrying that. She said, I've been watching what people carry when they don't think the company is watching back. He said it adds up. She held his gaze for a long moment. Then she said something he hadn't expected.
I owe her an apology, she said. I didn't make that call, but I didn't stop it either because I didn't know. And not knowing wasn't enough. He thought about 12 years of being the man who knew things that nobody upstairs wanted to know about the particular cost of being right in a place that wasn't built for it. No, he said it wasn't.
But you know now, she nodded. They finished lunch. Priya had arranged separate cars back. In the 3 seconds between the table and the door, Amelia stopped beside him and said, "Lo, meant only for him." Marcus, whatever happens with this audit, whatever they try to do, I want you to know that you will not be standing there alone. He looked at her.