He stared straight ahead, gripping the edge of the table with both hands as if letting go would cause him to fall through the floor. The man who had toasted uninvited guests was now trying to become invisible. The man who had called for the pound was sitting very, very still. Garrett Cole appeared at Victoria's side. His tablet was pressed against his chest like a shield.
"Miss Sinclair, perhaps we should—" "Garrett." Malcolm's voice stopped him midsentence. "I saw everything tonight. I heard everything, including your role in it." Garrett's face drained of color.
He took one step back. Malcolm reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone. He dialed a number. The call connected and two rings. "Patricia, it's Malcolm.
I need the legal team on a call in 30 minutes. Initiate a full internal review of Sinclair Weston Group. Executive conduct, HR complaints, personnel files, everything from the last 3 years." He paused. "Yes, starting tonight."
He ended the call and looked at Victoria. "You are suspended from your position as CEO effective immediately. You will not enter any Sinclair Weston office. You will not contact any employee. You will not issue any statement.
This is pending the outcome of a formal investigation." Victoria staggered. Not physically. Her body remained upright, but something behind her eyes collapsed. The architecture of her certainty, the scaffolding of her superiority, the entire structure she had built her identity upon.
It folded inward like a house of cards hit by a breath she never saw coming. "You can't—" she started. "I can," Malcolm said. "I just did." He turned to Raymond Pratt, who was standing 6 feet away.
Raymond had been listening to every word. His jaw was tight. His hands were at his sides. "Raymond," Malcolm said, "would you please escort Miss Sinclair to her vehicle?" Raymond nodded.
He stepped forward. The same man who had been ordered to watch Malcolm, to track his movements, to treat him as a threat, now walked Victoria Sinclair through the ballroom, past the tables, past the staring faces, past the champagne bar, and out through the main doors of the Meridian Grand. The irony was not lost on anyone. The woman who had tried to have a black man removed from her gala was now being removed from her own gala by the same security she had weaponized against him. The doors closed behind her.
The sound echoed through the marble lobby like a period at the end of a very long sentence. The video hit the internet at 11:47 p.m. Less than 2 hours after Victoria Sinclair was escorted out of her own gala. The woman who had been recording from three tables away, a 26-year-old marketing associate named Claire Bennett, uploaded the footage to her personal social media account with a single caption. "CEO tells Black man he's disgusting and calls security on him.