I know you do, he said. That's why I know your name. Marcus frowned slightly. What do you mean? When I was learning this building, Damen said, I read every incident report, every internal communication, every employee review from the last 5 years that my legal team could access.
I was looking for patterns and one of the patterns I found was a security supervisor who had filed 11 internal complaints in four years about treatment of visitors and lower level employees. He held Marcus's gaze. 11 Complaints. Every single one correctly identified a problem. Every single one ignored by administration.
Marcus stared at him. You know about those. Marcus said, I read all of them. Damian said they were one of the reasons I was confident that the people worth saving in this company significantly outnumbered the people causing the damage. The room was very quiet.
Marcus looked at the table then back at Damian and his expression. The controlled professional face of a man who has spent 22 years learning to keep himself together in difficult situations moved in a way that was small and unmistakable. Nobody ever he started. I know, Damen said. Nobody ever responded to a single one of those.
That changes, Damian said. Starting now. He held Marcus' gaze long enough for the weight of it to land. Then he said quietly and directly and without ceremony. I'm going to need people in this company who understand the difference between power and authority, between rank and integrity.
I've been looking at this organization for 14 months and you're one of maybe six people whose record I'd point to without hesitation. Marcus was very still. What are you saying? He said, I'm saying that your next role in this company is not going to be security supervisor. Damian said we're going to talk about what it is, but I wanted you to know the conversation is coming.
Marcus sat with that. Outside the city continued. 42 Floors below. The lobby where everything had started 3 days ago was doing what lobbies do. Receiving people, processing them, sending them upward or turning them away, indifferent to the specific gravity of whatever was carried in the leather folders and the briefcases, and the quiet practiced patience of the people who walked through its doors.
3 Days. That was how long it had taken for the shape of everything to change. The acquisition was public now. The federal investigation was public. The story would be in the financial press.