“Good.”
You paused.
“Maybe tomorrow.”
Nina groaned.
“Sofia.”
“I’m not going back.”
“You say that now.”
“I mean it.”
“Then why meet him?”
You looked toward the window, where the Manhattan skyline glowed in the distance like a promise and a warning.
“Because if Julian changed my file, he changed others.”
Nina softened.
“You don’t have to fix everything.”
You smiled sadly.
“I know.”
But neither of you believed it.
The next morning, you met Alejandro in a conference room at a neutral law office downtown.
Not his office.
Not your old building.
Neutral ground.
You wore black trousers, a white blouse, and the expression of a woman who had slept enough to become dangerous.
Alejandro was already there when you arrived.
He stood immediately.
For once, he did not look like the untouchable CEO from magazine covers. He looked tired. Unshaven. Human in a way you had rarely seen.
“Sofia,” he said.
“Mr. Lujan.”
He flinched slightly.
Good.
An attorney sat at the far end of the table. So did an investigator from the outside firm. Everything was being recorded.
You liked that.
Documentation was the only language corporations respected when feelings became inconvenient.
Alejandro gestured to the chair.
You sat.
He did too.
For a moment, neither of you spoke.
Then he said, “I failed you.”
You had prepared for denial.
For excuses.
For corporate language.
You had not prepared for that.
So you stayed quiet.
Alejandro continued, “I trusted reports that confirmed what I wanted to believe. Julian told me your division was stable. Lucia told me compensation reviews were standard. You kept delivering results, so I assumed the system was working.”
Your voice was calm.
“That is what executives say when workers absorb the damage before it reaches them.”
He nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Another surprise.
