Stranger.
Human being.
"I don't know everything about him yet," Victoria said.
Emma considered that.
"Can I say thank you?"
"If he wants to come."
Victoria promised she would ask.
Before doing that, she did something she should have done long ago.
She asked HR for information about the contractor who cleaned her building.
Not Marcus's private file.
The contract.
Pay structure.
Benefits.
Turnover.
Worker complaints.
How many people polishing Ashford's floors were not technically Ashford employees.
The answers unsettled her.
Meridian Facility Services employed sixty-two workers assigned across Ashford locations.
Ashford paid Meridian enough that the contract looked generous on paper.
Meridian paid frontline workers modest hourly wages.
Health insurance existed but dependent premiums were high.
Paid family leave was minimal.
Schedule flexibility depended heavily on local supervisors.
Turnover was forty-one percent annually.
Victoria read the number twice.
Forty-one.
She opened another report.
Ashford Industries' internal engineers had turnover under eleven percent.
Executives under six.
The people most invisible to her were leaving at four times the rate.
She thought of Marcus saying:
Emma didn't treat me that way.
That afternoon, HR director Nadine Foster came to the hospital.
Not because Victoria summoned her dramatically.
Because Victoria asked for a confidential conversation.
"I humiliated a Meridian employee yesterday morning."
Nadine did not pretend surprise.
"I know."
Victoria looked at her.
"You already knew."
"A complaint reached Employee Relations."
"From Marcus?"
"No."
"Two Ashford employees witnessed the interaction."
That hurt differently.
Marcus had not complained.
People watching had.
Victoria nodded.
"What happens now?"
"Normally?"
"Yes."
"We document the complaint."
"We interview witnesses."
"Because you're CEO, board governance is notified."
"And if the finding is substantiated?"
"We recommend corrective action and executive coaching."
Victoria almost smiled bitterly.
"Do that."
Nadine hesitated.
"You understand this will be in your leadership record."
"It should be."
That answer surprised Nadine enough to show.
Victoria continued.
"I also want the contractor structure reviewed."
"Not because Marcus donated blood."
"Because yesterday forced me to notice something I should already have known."
"Pay."
"Benefits."
Dependent coverage."
"Leave."
"Grievance process."
Nadine sat down.
"That is a larger project."
"I know."
"And potentially expensive."
"I know."
Victoria looked through the glass wall toward Emma's room.
"Bring me the real numbers."
"Not a PR proposal."
"Real ones."
Nadine nodded.
"Okay."
"One more thing."
Victoria paused.
"Marcus has an engineering background."
Nadine's eyebrows rose.
"How do you know?"
"A nurse mentioned it."
"Don't do anything with that."
Victoria looked at her.
"Excuse me?"
"If you're thinking of offering him an engineering job because he helped Emma, don't."
The bluntness would once have offended Victoria.
Now she listened.
Nadine continued.
"You'll turn gratitude into pressure."