CHAPTER FOURTEEN M: THE EMPLOYEE COMMITTEE
Martin Bell’s employee committee met Yvette in a grocery store training room that smelled faintly of fresh bread.
Nine employees sat around a table with printed copies of the foundation’s last annual report.
One woman named Helen asked whether her payroll donations had paid for the hotel room used in the fundraising photograph.
Yvette said the review had not traced individual donations to individual expenses, and she would not pretend otherwise.
Helen asked whether anyone had been punished.
Yvette said the board had referred documented concerns to the proper authorities and had changed its approval process.
A stockroom supervisor asked why the foundation had advertised completed training placements when several people were still waiting.
Yvette acknowledged that the wording had been wrong.
The supervisor said he had persuaded his team to donate because he believed classes were already operating.
Yvette apologized without asking the group to keep supporting the foundation.
Martin remained silent until the employees had finished.
Then he asked what they wanted the company to do with future donations.
Helen proposed directing the next collection to the existing culinary school rather than the unfinished warehouse.
Another employee asked whether the company could provide transportation vouchers directly.
The committee agreed to review a written proposal from Keisha’s school.
Yvette left without a photograph or a ceremonial check.
Outside, Martin said he respected her for attending.
Yvette said attendance was the easiest part.
He agreed and told her the employees would judge the next steps by whether students actually arrived in class.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN N: THE NIGHT CEDRIC CALLED
Cedric called Briana after midnight and asked her to meet him at a hotel lounge.
Briana said her attorney had advised her not to discuss the vendor approvals without counsel.
Cedric laughed and said she was becoming dramatic.
He told her he could restore her job if she stopped cooperating with the review.
Briana asked whether he was offering employment in exchange for silence.
He said she was choosing to misunderstand him.
She asked him to send any employment proposal to her attorney.
Cedric went quiet.
Then he asked whether Damian had taught her to speak that way.
Briana felt the old temptation to defend herself by insulting Damian.
She resisted it.
She said Damian had nothing to do with her decision to obtain advice.
Cedric told her she would regret turning against the people who had made her successful.
Briana ended the call.
She sat on the edge of her bed and waited for the familiar impulse to call him back.
The impulse passed slowly.
In the morning, she wrote a factual account of the conversation for her attorney.
She did not add guesses about Cedric’s intentions.
She included the time, the number, and the words she remembered.
Then she called the human resources manager to ask how to retrieve her personal belongings.
The manager scheduled a supervised visit for Friday.
Briana realized she had spent months believing Cedric could open every door she wanted.
Now she was learning how to leave a room without asking his permission.
