Olivia looked at him sharply when he said the last sentence. She knew he meant it, but she also heard the authority in his voice, an authority he had possessed during every conversation in which he had seemed vulnerable. He was no longer the coworker who worried that Marcus might end his assignment. He was the person capable of changing the whole system with a sentence, and she felt suddenly foolish for having told him how to survive.
Ethan saw her expression and almost stepped toward her, but stopped. The revelation had given him more power than he wanted in that moment, and using it to demand her attention would make the betrayal worse. He turned back to Daniel and let the formal process proceed. For the first time since arriving undercover, he had to accept that discovering the truth did not mean he controlled what it would cost another person to hear it.
Daniel asked Marcus to step into the private dining room, where the interim operations director and a Human Resources representative were waiting. Ethan followed, not to conduct the interview himself but to make the management decision he was responsible for. Marcus walked ahead with an expression of stiff disbelief, straightening his jacket as though the return to polished surroundings might restore his authority. The private room had the same elegant chairs and soft lighting as the main dining area, and Ethan remembered choosing its walls to make difficult business conversations feel less intimidating.
"Pending the formal investigation, your management authority is suspended," Ethan told him. "The acting director will supervise operations, and you will not access the restaurant's administrative systems or direct its staff while the review is under way."
"You can't do this," Marcus said.
"I can, and I am. You will receive the decision in writing, along with the process for responding to the concerns. You are required to preserve relevant information and cooperate with reasonable requests from the investigators."
"After everything I've done for this restaurant?"
"You were paid to protect it, not exploit it. Whether the discrepancies amount to negligence, intentional misconduct, or something else will be determined by the evidence. What I witnessed in the kitchen is already sufficient to show that your way of leading people cannot continue tonight."
Marcus gripped the back of a chair. "You've made me look like a criminal in front of my staff. You'll regret humiliating me."
"I didn't humiliate you," Ethan said. "I stopped protecting you from the consequences of your own decisions. I should have examined the complaints sooner, and I will answer for that failure, but I won't pretend it didn't happen because the truth is uncomfortable."
For an instant Marcus looked older. His certainty had depended on knowing which words would make other people retreat, and he had found someone who would not retreat. He began to argue again, then looked at Daniel's folder and apparently recognized that the evidence would have to be discussed in a setting where insults and threats carried no advantage. The Human Resources representative explained the next steps, and Marcus was escorted to collect his personal belongings while the interim director arranged coverage of the front office.