0:00 Jake, after 17 years, we're eliminating
0:03 your position, my boss said flatly.
0:05 Clean out your desk by end of
0:07 day. My name's Jake Wilson, 54 years old
0:10 and until that Monday morning, senior
0:12 systems analyst at Meridian Technologies
0:14 in Columbus, Ohio. For almost two
0:16 decades, I'd been the backbone of the IT
0:19 department. From the dialup days to
0:21 cloud migration, three CEOs had come and
0:24 gone while I stayed put, training every
0:26 new hire, recovering every lost file,
0:28 working through weekends and holidays
0:30 without asking for a promotion or pat on
0:32 the back. So when Daniel called me into
0:34 his office with Vanessa from HR already
0:36 seated, I knew before he opened his
0:39 mouth. The air had changed weeks
0:42 ago. I understand completely, I said,
0:45 nodding once. I walked out without
0:47 another word. No anger, no pleading,
0:50 just quiet
0:52 acknowledgement. Back at my desk, I
0:54 watched younger employees glance my way,
0:56 then quickly looked down at their
0:57 screens. News travels fast. Most of them
1:00 were coders I'd trained myself. Good
1:03 kids, but they had no idea what was
1:05 actually built into our systems or how
1:07 the older architecture worked. None of
1:10 them could navigate the custom software
1:12 I'd written or the admin credentials
1:14 buried three layers deep in every
1:15 system. I began packing my personal
1:18 items methodically. Family photo. Coffee
1:21 mug my son made in high school. The
1:24 small cactus that somehow survived 17
1:26 years under fluorescent lighting.
1:28 Bethany from marketing stopped by, her
1:30 face tight with
1:31 concern. Jake, I just heard. This is
1:34 ridiculous. You practically built this
1:37 place. I shrugged. Companies change
1:40 direction but without any warning after
1:43 everything you've done. Her voice was
1:46 rising, drawing attention. "It's fine,"
1:49 I said quietly.
1:51 "Really? It wasn't fine, but I wasn't
1:53 going to make a scene." As I was
1:55 leaving, Daniel stepped out of his
1:57 office to watch me go. No goodbye, no
2:00 handshake, just surveillance to make
2:02 sure I actually left. What none of them
2:04 had bothered to pay attention to over
2:06 the years was that I had become the most
2:08 critical person in the entire building.
2:10 Not because I was exceptional, but
2:12 because I was thorough. I documented
2:15 everything, set up secure audit
2:17 protocols years ago to track
2:19 unauthorized access by request of the
2:21 legal team during a past scandal. I also
2:24 had
2:25 copies. In my car, I sat for a moment,
2:28 looking back at the 12story building
2:29 where I'd spent most of my adult life.
2:32 The security badge I'd just surrendered
2:34 had been renewed 16 times. I started the
2:36 engine and drove home. They had no idea
2:39 Wednesday would be fun. I'd been with
2:41 Meridian since it was just two floors in
2:43 a business park. Started when my
2:44 daughter Olivia was in kindergarten. Now
2:46 she was finishing grad school. The
2:49 company grew and I grew with it. Turned
2:51 down offers from competitors because
2:53 loyalty mattered to me. My wife Andrea
2:55 used to joke that the servers were my
2:57 second family. She wasn't entirely
2:59 wrong. I knew every system, every
3:02 workaround, every backdoor solution to
3:04 problems the executives didn't even know
3:06 existed.
3:07 The infrastructure I'd built had
3:10 survived three acquisitions and
3:12 countless innovations that management
3:14 embraced then abandoned months
3:17 later. Daniel became my boss 5 years
3:19 ago. Young MBA type who called our
3:22 department IT resources instead of
3:24 people. He had ideas about streamlining,
3:26 efficiency, digital transformation,
3:28 buzzwords that usually meant doing more
3:30 with less.
3:32 At first, I tried to help him understand
3:34 our systems, the complexity buried under
3:36 years of growth and
3:37 adaptation. We need to future proof,
3:40 he'd say in meetings, looking right past
3:42 me. 6 months ago, he brought in a
3:44 consultant named Jason Phillips.
3:46 Expensive suit, firm handshake, Stanford
3:49 degree displayed prominently on his
3:50 LinkedIn profile. They'd huddle in
3:53 conference rooms, speaking quietly
3:55 whenever I walked by.
3:57 Three months ago, I noticed my access
3:59 permissions being quietly modified.
4:01 Nothing obvious, just small changes to
4:03 administrative controls. I could have
4:05 protested, but instead I watched,
4:08 documented. "You seem distracted
4:10 lately," Andrea said one night as we sat
4:12 on the porch. "Is everything okay at
4:14 work?" I nodded, sipping my beer. "Just
4:18 changes, nothing I haven't seen
4:21 before." But these changes felt
4:23 different. I was being sidelined in
4:25 meetings. Emails about system upgrades
4:27 stopped, including me. Younger team
4:29 members were assigned to projects I
4:31 would normally handle. Then I found it.
4:33 A companywide memo about modernization
4:35 initiatives that had never been shared
4:37 with me. It outlined a complete
4:39 restructuring of the IT department under
4:41 new leadership, Jason Phillips. My
4:44 position wasn't even on the
4:46 organizational chart. That same day, I
4:48 discovered something else. While running
4:50 a routine security scan, one of those
4:52 background tasks no one else bothered
4:54 with anymore, I noticed unusual patterns
4:56 in our financial software. Regular
4:59 transfers to a vendor I didn't
5:01 recognize, Apex Solutions Group. A quick
5:05 search showed it was registered just
5:06 last year with a business address that
5:08 led to a UPS store. The authorized
5:10 payments had started small but were
5:12 growing each month. I didn't say
5:14 anything, just noted it, copied the
5:16 records, and continued watching.
5:19 Sometimes the quiet man in the corner
5:20 sees everything precisely because
5:22 everyone thinks he sees nothing. The
5:25 morning after I was let go, I sat in my
5:27 home office staring at my personal
5:28 laptop. No alarm had woken me. No
5:31 commute waited, just silence and the
5:34 weight of what had happened. Andrea
5:36 brought me coffee, placing it beside me
5:38 without a word. After 19 years of
5:40 marriage, she knew when I needed
5:43 space. I'm going to the store, she said
5:45 eventually. need
5:47 anything?" I shook my head. After she
5:51 left, I unlocked the bottom drawer of my
5:52 desk and pulled out a flash drive, one
5:54 of several I kept secure. Company
5:57 policies strictly prohibited removing
5:59 data, but years ago, when the legal team
6:01 needed an audit system for tracking
6:03 potential insider threats, I'd been
6:05 clear about needing off-site backups.
6:08 They'd signed off on it, then promptly
6:10 forgotten. I plugged it in and began
6:12 reviewing the files, internal emails,
6:14 meeting minutes I shouldn't have had
6:16 access to, financial records that normal
6:18 employees would never see. There it was,
6:21 a full history of payments to Apex
6:23 Solutions Group, nearly $1.8 million
6:26 over 18
6:28 months. The approval chain led directly
6:30 to our CFO, Brian Wilcox. I dug deeper,
6:34 cross- referencing dates and figures
6:35 until the pattern emerged. The payments
6:37 aligned perfectly with a series of
6:39 software license renewals for systems we
6:41 used companywide, but the amounts were
6:43 inflated, sometimes by 15%, sometimes by
6:48 20%. Small enough not to raise immediate
6:51 flags, large enough to add up. I pulled
6:54 up the business registration for Apex
6:56 Solutions Group. The listed owner was
6:58 Thomas Wilcox. A quick social media
7:01 search confirmed what I suspected.
7:03 Brian's brother-in-law. They were
7:05 siphoning company funds through fake
7:06 markup on legitimate expenses. I leaned
7:09 back in my chair, feeling something
7:10 shift inside me. Not anger exactly,
7:13 something colder, more focused. For 17
7:16 years, I'd solve problems, fixed
7:18 systems, protected data. I'd been the
7:20 reliable one, the steady presence who
7:22 never caused waves. And they discarded
7:24 me like outdated
7:26 hardware. My phone buzzed with a text
7:28 from Steven, a junior analyst I'd
7:30 mentored over the past 2 years. Sorry
7:33 about yesterday. Total BS what they did.
7:35 Philillips is already moving into your
7:37 old
7:38 office. I set the phone down without
7:40 responding. The pieces all fit now.
7:43 Daniel and the CFO needed me gone before
7:45 anyone could connect the dots on their
7:47 scheme. They probably thought the
7:49 evidence would disappear with me, that I
7:50 was just some aging tech guy who didn't
7:52 understand modern finance. I opened my
7:55 email and began drafting a message to
7:57 the board of directors. Then stopped,
7:59 finger hovering over the send button.
8:01 too direct, too easy to dismiss as the
8:04 bitter accusations of a fired employee.
8:06 I needed leverage, precision, a way to
8:09 expose the fraud that couldn't be
8:10 ignored or covered up. I deleted the
8:13 draft and started making plans. Tomorrow
8:15 was Wednesday, board meeting day.
8:18 Quarterly financials would be presented.
8:20 Bonuses would be approved. Perfect
8:22 timing. I closed the laptop and walked
8:25 to the living room window, looking out
8:26 at the neighborhood where we'd raised
8:28 our kids and built our life. For the
8:30 first time since yesterday, I smiled.
8:33 Wednesday morning, I sat in my car
8:34 across the street from Meridian's
8:36 headquarters, watching employees stream
8:38 through the revolving doors. In the
8:40 passenger seat was my laptop, logged
8:42 into an email account I'd created years
8:44 ago for security testing. One that
8:46 appeared to come from an internal
8:48 company domain, but wasn't tracked in
8:50 the main directory. At exactly 9:15
8:53 a.m., I sent my first move. An email to
8:55 Daniel with the subject line, "Financial
8:57 irregularities. Urgent review needed and
9:00 a basic summary of what I'd found
9:01 regarding the Apex payments. I included
9:04 just enough detail to be credible, but
9:06 kept the brother-in-law connection out
9:07 of it. If Daniel was involved, he'd
9:10 panic. If he wasn't, he'd investigate.
9:12 Either way, I'd learn something. By
9:15 9:45, my phone rang. Daniel's number. I
9:18 let it go to voicemail. His message was
9:21 Tur. Jake, we need to discuss your email
9:24 immediately. Call me
9:25 back. I didn't. Instead, I drove to a
9:28 coffee shop, set up my laptop, and
9:30 waited. At 10:30, another email
9:32 appeared. This one from Vanessa in HR.
9:36 Mr. Wilson, we've received concerning
9:38 communication from you that potentially
9:40 violates your separation agreement.
9:42 Please cease all contact with Meridian
9:44 employees and remember your
9:45 confidentiality obligations. Any further
9:48 communications may result in legal
9:50 action. So, that's how they were playing
9:52 it. Threaten, dismiss, isolate. I hadn't
9:56 signed any separation agreement. At
9:58 noon, I drove to my bank and accessed my
10:00 safe deposit box. Inside was another
10:03 backup, older, but with critical
10:05 information I hadn't included on my
10:07 regular drives. Among the files were
10:09 original security protocols I designed,
10:12 including documentation of who had
10:14 access to what systems and when changes
10:16 were made. According to these records,
10:19 Brian Wilcox had personally requested
10:21 expanded access to the financial
10:23 approval systems 18 months ago, right
10:25 when the Apex payments began. Back home,
10:28 I found three more missed calls. Daniel,
10:31 Vanessa, and now Jason Phillips. I
10:34 hadn't expected him to get involved so
10:36 quickly. Interesting. I checked my
10:39 personal email to find a message from
10:40 Steven marked urgent. Jake, they're
10:43 saying you sent some crazy email about
10:45 financial fraud. Philips called an
10:47 emergency meeting. Everyone's talking.
10:50 They're pulling your access to
10:51 everything, even historical stuff. We
10:52 need to do our jobs. What's going
10:56 on? Poor kid. Caught in the crossfire. I
11:00 sent a brief reply. Don't get involved,
11:02 Steven. Just
11:05 watch. At 3 p.m., my home phone rang, a
11:08 number I hadn't used for business in
11:10 years. I picked up but said nothing.
11:13 Jake, it's Brian Wilcox. His voice was
11:16 steady, controlled. "We should talk
11:19 about your concerns. I think there's
11:20 been a
11:21 misunderstanding." "Is that what you
11:23 call it?" I asked. "Look, transition
11:26 periods are always difficult. If you
11:28 have questions about company finances,
11:30 there are proper channels like the
11:33 board." I interrupted. Silence then. The
11:36 board doesn't need to be bothered with
11:38 operational
11:39 details. Why don't we meet tomorrow?
11:41 Just you and me. We can clear this up.
11:45 Sorry, I'm busy tomorrow, I said.
11:47 Besides, I think the board might
11:49 actually be very interested in Apex
11:50 Solutions Group and your
11:52 brother-in-law. The sharp intake of
11:54 breath told me
11:56 everything. You're making a serious
11:58 mistake, he said finally. We can make
12:00 this right. Generous severance,
12:03 references, whatever you need. Goodbye,
12:06 Brian, I said, and hung up. Within 10
12:08 minutes, Vanessa emailed again.
12:11 Suddenly, my severance package had
12:12 doubled with an attached agreement
12:14 requiring my complete confidentiality
12:15 regarding all company
12:17 matters. They were scrambling now, but
12:20 they still thought they were dealing
12:21 with a simple extortion attempt. They
12:24 had no idea what was coming. Thursday
12:26 morning brought clarity and
12:28 confirmation. I'd spent the night
12:29 combing through years of data,
12:31 connecting dots I'd previously
12:32 overlooked. The Apex Scheme wasn't
12:34 Brian's first creative accounting
12:36 project. Three years ago, shortly after
12:38 he became CFO, another pattern emerged.
12:42 Consulting fees to a firm called
12:44 Lakeside Business Solutions. Different
12:46 name, same game. Inflated invoices for
12:50 services partially or never rendered. I
12:54 traced the registration for Lakeside.
12:56 This one led to Patricia Wilcox, Brian's
12:58 wife. The woman was apparently CEO of a
13:01 company that had no website, no
13:03 employees, and a virtual office address.
13:06 But the bigger revelation came when I
13:08 dug into email archives. Daniel hadn't
13:11 just been aware of these arrangements,
13:12 he'd helped facilitate them. In
13:14 exchange, his department received budget
13:16 increases while others faced
13:18 cuts. He'd been brought in specifically
13:21 because the previous director had
13:22 started asking questions about IT
13:24 expenditures. Even Jason Phillips was
13:27 connected. His consulting firm had been
13:29 hired through an unusual process that
13:31 bypassed normal procurement channels.
13:33 His real role wasn't modernizing it. It
13:36 was eliminating the one person who might
13:38 notice the financial
13:39 patterns. Me. The scheme was elegant in
13:43 its simplicity. Create legitimate
13:45 seeming vendors approve inflated
13:46 payments and split the difference. Since
13:49 actual services were being provided just
13:51 at markedup rates, auditors scanning for
13:53 completely fraudulent charges would miss
13:55 it. Over 3 years, they diverted nearly
13:58 $4.3 million. I gathered everything into
14:01 a comprehensive report. Spreadsheets
14:03 showing the pattern of increases,
14:05 business registrations linking the
14:06 companies to Brian's family, email
14:08 exchanges showing Daniel's knowledge and
14:11 participation. Then I did something they
14:13 wouldn't expect. I contacted Robert
14:15 Chen, a board member I'd worked with
14:17 years ago during a security
14:19 implementation. He was semi-retired now,
14:21 but still attended quarterly
14:23 meetings. Jake Wilson, he said,
14:25 answering on the second ring. Long time
14:28 heard you left Meridian. Not by choice,
14:31 I
14:32 replied. Robert, I need 15 minutes of
14:35 your time. It's
14:37 important. Silence then. This about why
14:40 Brian and Daniel have been huddled
14:41 together looking stressed. Board meeting
14:43 was tense
14:44 yesterday. Probably. He chuckled. Always
14:48 figured you knew where the bodies were
14:50 buried. Where can we meet? An hour
14:53 later, we sat in a park 3 mi from
14:55 headquarters. I handed him a sealed
14:57 envelope containing a printed summary
14:58 and a flash drive. That's everything, I
15:01 said. Dates, amounts, connections. I'm
15:04 not looking for my job back. I'm not
15:06 looking for money. I just want the right
15:08 people to know. Robert studied me. Why
15:12 come to
15:13 me? Because you actually read audit
15:16 reports. I've watched you in meetings.
15:18 You ask questions. He nodded slowly.
15:21 There's an emergency board session
15:23 tomorrow. Finance Committee review.
15:26 Convenient timing, Jake, he said,
15:28 pocketing the envelope. If this checks
15:31 out, there will be serious
15:32 consequences. I'm counting on it. As I
15:36 walked back to my car, my phone buzzed
15:38 with a text from
15:39 Andrea. Someone named Jason Phillips
15:41 came by the house looking for you. Said
15:43 it was urgent. I told him you were out.
15:46 They were getting desperate.
15:48 Good. That afternoon, I received job
15:50 offers from two competing firms, both
15:53 for positions well above my previous
15:54 role, both offering substantial signing
15:57 bonuses. Word had gotten around about my
15:59 sudden availability. I ignored them for
16:01 now. This wasn't about finding another
16:03 job. It was about finishing what they
16:06 had started. That night, using
16:08 credentials that should have been
16:09 revoked, but weren't. Sloppy it
16:11 transition. Jason, I accessed the
16:13 company's email server one last time and
16:15 scheduled a message to be delivered to
16:17 every board member at 8:00 a.m.
16:20 tomorrow. Before you approve, Q two
16:24 bonuses, read
16:26 this. Attached was my full report.
16:30 Friday morning dawned clear and bright.
16:32 I sat on my porch with coffee, watching
16:33 the neighborhood wake up. No alarm
16:36 clock, no commute, just waiting. At
16:39 precisely 8:00 a.m., my scheduled email
16:41 delivered its payload to the board
16:43 members. By 8:17, my phone began to
16:46 ring. Numbers I didn't recognize, likely
16:48 board members assistants scrambling to
16:50 reach me. I let them all go to
16:52 voicemail. At 9:00 a.m., the emergency
16:55 finance committee meeting would begin.
16:57 Robert Chen would be there with my
16:58 documentation in hand, watching
17:00 reactions as my email was discovered and
17:02 discussed. At 9:32, Steven texted,
17:06 "Police are here. Will Cox and Daniel
17:08 being questioned in conference rooms,
17:09 Philillips looking sick. What did you
17:12 do? I didn't respond. The wheels were
17:15 turning exactly as I'd anticipated. By
17:17 10:00 a.m., Meridian's general counsel
17:19 called. Unlike the others, I answered
17:22 this one. "Mr. Wilson, this is Patricia
17:25 Graves from legal. We need you to come
17:27 in immediately to discuss information
17:29 you've provided to the board." "I'm
17:32 available by phone," I replied. "This
17:34 really requires an in-person discussion.
17:37 No, it doesn't," I interrupted calmly.
17:39 "Everything I know is in that report.
17:41 Everything I have is already backed up
17:43 in multiple secure locations. If
17:45 anything happens to me or my family,
17:47 additional copies go to the SEC, IRS,
17:50 and three news
17:53 outlets."
17:55 Silence. "Mr. Wilson," she finally said,
17:58 her voice carefully measured. The board
18:00 is taking this extremely seriously.
18:02 They've already placed several
18:03 executives on administrative leave
18:04 pending investigation. They would
18:06 appreciate your
18:08 cooperation. I've cooperated fully by
18:10 providing complete documentation. My
18:12 part is
18:13 done. After she hung up, I drove to a
18:16 diner 20 m outside Columbus. No sense
18:18 being easily found today. Over lunch,
18:21 news began breaking on local business
18:23 sites. Meridian Technologies executives
18:26 under investigation for financial
18:28 irregularities. No names yet, but that
18:30 would come. At 2 p.m., Robert Chen
18:33 called. It's a blood bath, he said
18:35 without
18:36 preamble. Brian confessed once we
18:38 confronted him with your evidence,
18:40 trying to cut a deal, blaming Daniel for
18:42 pressuring him. Daniel's denying
18:44 everything. And
18:46 Philillips claims he was just a
18:48 consultant who had no knowledge of
18:50 financial matters. Board isn't buying
18:52 it. We've suspended all three pending
18:54 further
18:56 investigation. The money forensic
18:59 accountants are coming in Monday. Early
19:01 estimates suggest at least $4.5 million
19:04 diverted over 3 years, maybe more. I
19:07 nodded to myself. I'd been close. The
19:10 board wants to talk to you, Robert
19:12 continued. About coming back, not just
19:14 to your old position. They're creating a
19:16 new chief security officer role,
19:18 reporting directly to the board. I'd
19:21 anticipated this possibility, but still
19:23 found myself surprised. I'll think about
19:25 it, I said. That evening, I told Andrea
19:29 everything. She listened without
19:30 interrupting, then asked, "What do you
19:33 want to do?" Good question. The revenge
19:36 part was complete. The people who'
19:38 pushed me out were themselves being
19:40 pushed out, likely facing criminal
19:42 charges. Justice had been served cold
19:44 and precise. But returning to Meridian
19:47 meant walking back into the place that
19:48 had discarded me after 17 years of
19:50 service. "Could I do that? Did I want
19:54 to?" "I need time to decide," I said
19:57 finally. Later that night, I opened my
20:00 laptop one last time and posted a single
20:01 message to my otherwise dormant LinkedIn
20:04 profile. Never burn bridges, just let
20:06 them collapse under the weight of their
20:08 own greed. Within minutes, former
20:10 colleagues began reaching out. Word was
20:12 spreading. The quiet systems guy had
20:14 brought down three executives without
20:16 raising his voice. By Monday, everyone
20:19 would know exactly who they'd
20:21 underestimated. Monday morning, I walked
20:23 into Meridian's headquarters wearing a
20:25 suit I hadn't needed in years. The
20:27 security guard did a double take, then
20:28 quickly printed me a visitor badge.
20:31 "Welcome back, Mr. Wilson," he said with
20:33 newfound respect. "The elevator ride to
20:36 the executive floor was quiet. I'd never
20:39 had reason to visit this level before.
20:41 Now I was expected in the
20:43 boardroom." 10 board members sat around
20:45 a polished table. Robert Chen nodded
20:47 slightly as I entered. The interim CEO,
20:50 previously the COO, looked
20:53 uncomfortable. "Mr. Wilson, she began.
20:56 Thank you for coming. The situation
20:58 you've brought to light is
21:00 unprecedented. I remained silent. The
21:03 full extent of the fraud appears worse
21:05 than initially reported," she continued.
21:08 "The forensic team has identified nearly
21:10 $5.2 million in diverted funds. Criminal
21:13 charges are being
21:14 prepared." Still, I waited. Robert
21:17 cleared his throat. Jake, the board has
21:20 unanimously voted to create a new
21:21 executive position, chief information
21:24 security officer, full executive
21:26 privileges, reporting structure directly
21:28 to the board. We'd like to offer you the
21:32 role. I set my folder on the
21:35 table. Inside, you'll find my
21:37 conditions, I said.
21:40 Non-negotiable. The CEO opened it,
21:42 scanning quickly. Her eyebrows rose.
21:45 Full audit authority across all
21:47 departments. independent budget veto
21:49 power on financial technology decisions.
21:52 I nodded once. This is unusual, she
21:55 said. So was embezzling $5.2 million, I
21:59 replied. That happened because no one
22:01 was watching. Now someone will be. The
22:04 room fell silent. You have until noon, I
22:07 said standing. I have other
22:10 offers. As I turned to leave, Robert
22:13 asked, "Did you plan this all along,
22:15 Jake?"
22:16 I paused at the door. I didn't plan to
22:19 be fired after 17 years. Everything
22:22 after that was just me doing what I've
22:24 always done, identifying system
22:25 vulnerabilities and implementing
22:27 appropriate security
22:29 measures. At 11:47, they called. They'd
22:33 accepted every
22:34 condition. 6 months later, I sat in my
22:37 new corner office reviewing security
22:39 protocols for the upcoming quarter. The
22:41 view overlooked the Columbus skyline, a
22:43 daily reminder of how much had changed.
22:46 Brian Wilcox had plead guilty to
22:48 multiple fraud charges. In exchange for
22:50 cooperation, he'd receive a reduced
22:52 sentence, still significant. Daniel was
22:55 fighting the charges, insisting he was
22:57 unaware of the scheme despite the
22:58 evidence. Jason Phillips had fled to
23:01 Brazil, but was being extradited. The
23:03 money had been recovered, most of it,
23:05 anyway. Enough that the company avoided
23:07 serious financial damage. My former team
23:10 now reported to me. Though I'd promoted
23:12 Steven to run day-to-day operations, the
23:14 kid had potential. Just needed someone
23:16 to see it. A knock at my door drew my
23:20 attention. Andrea stood there smiling.
23:22 "Ready for lunch?" she asked. I nodded,
23:25 grabbing my jacket. As we walked through
23:27 the IT department, conversations quieted
23:30 briefly. Not from fear, but
23:34 respect. These people knew what had
23:36 happened. knew I could have destroyed
23:38 the company instead of saving it. In the
23:41 elevator, Andrea squeezed my hand.
23:44 Happy? I considered the question. The
23:46 anger that had driven me those first few
23:48 days after being fired had faded. What
23:51 remained wasn't exactly happiness, more
23:53 like satisfaction.
23:55 Completion. I'm good, I said. Outside.
23:59 The October sun warmed our faces as we
24:01 walked to a nearby restaurant. My phone
24:03 buzzed with a message from Robert Chen.
24:06 Board approved your security budget
24:07 increase. Unanimous vote. I smiled
24:10 slightly. No arguments, no questions,
24:12 just trust. Andrea noticed my
24:15 expression. What is
24:17 it? Nothing, I said, sliding the phone
24:20 back into my pocket. Just thinking about
24:24 bridges. Some collapse under their own
24:26 weight. Others, once repaired, become
24:28 stronger than they ever were before. I'd
24:31 built this one right this time.
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