At home, her mother needed help paying for medication, and her younger sister was preparing to start college. Kiana's salary was not generous, but it was dependable, and she had built her household around that dependability. Shenine knew. She liked asking about Kiana's family when she wanted to remind the girl that leaving the company would not be a simple act of independence.
By eight forty-five, Jamal had read the audit notice and called Derek into his office. He held the page between two fingers as if it were an insult. "Who authorized an independent freeze without going through the chief executive?"
"It came through the board's audit committee. Under the charter, they can suspend discretionary payments when there is a documented risk."
"Why wasn't I told before it happened?"
"I was notified when you were."
Jamal stared out at the city. He had grown up believing the worst thing a leader could do was look uncertain in front of his team. His father had repeated that lesson often, telling him that business respected confidence and that people who hesitated were removed from rooms where decisions were made. Jamal had confused that lesson with strength until he no longer knew how to admit that he had missed something.
"Find out who made the complaint," he said.
Derek hesitated. "That might interfere with the independent review."
"I am asking you to identify a source of business disruption."
"Understood."
When Derek left, Jamal called Shenine. She arrived already carrying her grievance, as if she had been rehearsing in the elevator. "It's Maya," she said before he finished explaining. "She keeps demanding things from my department. Yesterday she damaged my presentation. Now somebody freezes my campaign budget right before the launch."
"Do you have proof?"
"I have enough. You saw how she treated me."
Jamal's jaw tightened. He had seen Maya standing with a reddened cheek. He had heard Ellen tell him to check the camera. He had chosen not to do it, because accepting Maya's account would require acknowledging that he had publicly misjudged someone twice in two days.
"I'll handle it," he said.
Shenine leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I knew you would."
Maya was in the finance office reviewing a different supplier's documentation when she received the summons. She had slept badly. Her cheek still felt sore, and she had taken a photograph of it that morning at the suggestion of her attorney. There was no dramatic bruise, only enough redness to remind her what happened when a hand crossed a boundary in an office where nobody wanted to see it.
When she entered Jamal's office, Derek and Shenine were already there. Jamal turned his laptop toward her. On the screen was an email apparently sent from Maya's work account late the previous night to Shenine's address. It contained threatening language, suggested Shenine should resign, and warned that the company's marketing payments would be exposed publicly if she did not comply.
"Explain this," Jamal said.
Maya stared. "I didn't send it."
"It came from your account."
"Then somebody accessed my account. I wasn't logged in at that time."