"Does one mean you're the boss now?" He laughed softly. "No. It means I was the first person hired a long time ago. I still fix doors."
"But you helped them start," Lily said, remembering the story of the old workshop. Daniel thought about Elliot, the unfinished prototypes, and the people who had worked beside him through cold mornings and anxious nights. "I helped," he agreed.
"A lot of people helped. That's how the place got big." Lily tilted her head in the way she did when she thought someone was being too modest. "I think you're special anyway," she said, and hugged him before he could answer.
In the weeks that followed, Grant Technologies changed in ways that were not obvious to visitors walking through its polished lobby. A confidential employee support office opened beside human resources, staffed partly by an independent service whose counselors were trained to protect privacy. Managers received new guidance requiring documented review before terminating employees over security concerns, and facilities requests affecting safety gained an approval process that did not depend on the floor where the problem occurred. Workers who had spent years explaining the same issues began to see their suggestions recorded, reviewed, and sometimes implemented.
The first assistance payments were small but important. One helped a cafeteria worker keep electricity running while she waited for a delayed paycheck. Another covered transportation for a security employee whose bus route had changed unexpectedly. A third paid for temporary care that allowed a staff member to accompany a parent to an urgent appointment without losing an entire week of wages. Victoria reviewed the program's anonymized results, not the names of the people receiving help, and insisted that the company report how quickly requests were resolved as well as how many were approved.