“There was no misunderstanding. You understood perfectly well who you thought I was. That was the whole problem.”
She turned toward the door.
Leonard rushed around the desk and moved in front of it.
Not touching her.
Not yet desperate enough to forget there were cameras in hallways.
“Please,” he said, voice lower now. “Let’s be reasonable.”
Reasonable.
Another favorite word of powerful men after they lost control of the story.
“I am being reasonable,” Olivia said. “I came here to evaluate your company. You helped me finish.”
He glanced at his phone again.
The stock was down another three points.
His breathing changed.
“Tell me what you want.”
Olivia looked at him.
“The time for that question was when you thought I was nobody.”
She opened the door.
Outside, several employees had already gathered without meaning to look gathered.
The air in the hall was electric.
People knew something was wrong.
People always knew before official language arrived to sanitize it.
Leonard followed her out, trying to keep his voice down.
“We can work something out.”
Olivia kept walking.
At the elevator bank, two security guards stood straighter than they had when she entered the building.
People who ignored power until other people recognized it.
Classic.
