Chapter 2

The moment I sat down, Nathan Woodward came over, his voice low.

"They didn't approve it?"

I shook my head. "No."

Nathan sighed. "That's just how Madison is. Give her an inch and she acts like she runs the place. Gets herself knocked up and suddenly the whole company's supposed to bow to her. Damn it, what's three hundred bucks supposed to cover?"

"So we all sit here doing spreadsheets in the office, nobody goes out to see clients, and then we'll see what pays our salaries at the end of the month!"

Ava Whitney breezed in from outside, glowing.

"I'm off to Grandport tomorrow on business. Nathan, keep an eye on my client stuff for me."

Nathan glanced at me, then asked her, "A flight to Grandport's got to be two grand, right? Anything over three hundred doesn't get reimbursed. You paying out of pocket?"

She shot me a look and let out a little scoff.

"Paying out of pocket is what losers do. Finance just approved it. Full reimbursement."

Then she waved her phone with the ticket confirmation and walked off, smiling.

I clenched the reimbursement form in my hand, the paper's edge biting into my palm.

So it wasn't that the rules had changed. The rules just picked and chose.

Madison had done it on purpose, rejecting my request and then approving Ava's right after.

This wasn't playing favorites. She was making an example of me.

She wanted everyone to know that in this company, she could block whoever she wanted and wave through whoever she wanted.

Nathan patted my shoulder and tried to talk me down. "Let it go. Last time Ava came back from a trip she brought Madison some local specialty gifts. Madison eats that stuff up."

I said nothing. I put together a fresh reimbursement request and submitted it a second time.

Madison still didn't approve it.

The third time, I compiled a full set of documents and emailed them straight to the chairman's inbox. Director Foster intercepted it.

He called me into his office, his tone sounding almost fatherly.

"Judy, don't be so stubborn about the reimbursement thing. Just tough it out and take the cheapest way there."

My fingers tightened.

"Mr. Foster, Ava's flight to Grandport got approved. She's traveling the same day I am."

His face darkened slightly.

"Judy, stop watching everyone else. Do your own job well. It's not a good look, a young person always comparing themselves to others."

"Go get ready. Don't hold up the bid."

I said nothing, went back to my desk, opened the ticketing app, and bought the soonest hard-seat coach train ticket I could find.

I sent over the reimbursement request. Madison approved it in seconds.

With a message attached.

【See? Wasn't that easy? You're young. Don't get so worked up. You need to figure out who actually calls the shots around here.】

I didn't reply.

At three thirty in the afternoon, I boarded the train.

Trevor Foster messaged me.

【On the train?】

I replied: 【Yes.】

【What time do you get in?】

【Eight thirty tomorrow morning.】

He paused. 【Bidding closes at ten. That's cutting it close. Hurry it up.】

【Okay. I'll do my best.】

He wrote back: 【Good. Stay safe on the road.】

He didn't ask if I had enough time. He didn't ask if I had enough money.

The seat was genuinely hard. Two hours in and my backside had gone numb.

I couldn't straighten my legs, and my lower back ached like it was broken.

At midnight the guy beside me let his head drop onto my shoulder.

I pushed him off fifteen times. I barely slept all night.

The next morning I pulled in at eight thirty-five, five minutes late.

Trevor called.

"You there?"

"Yeah. Five minutes late."

A second of silence on his end. "Hurry. There's still time."

I ran for the subway the second I got off. That train had just pulled away. I waited five minutes and got on the eight forty-five.

I reached my stop at nine fifty-five, rushed out of the subway, and made straight for the bike-share stand.

The bikes had been snatched up in a swarm.

Trevor called again.

"Did you turn in the bid?"

I was breathing hard.

"No. There aren't any bikes left nearby."

"Take a cab."

"I checked the route. A cab's worse with the traffic."

"Then move it. You've got five minutes."

I stared at the route estimate on my phone, panic climbing.

"The nearest bike stand is five minutes away, then fifteen minutes to ride over. There's no way I make it."

Trevor's voice came apart too. "Figure something out."

"I can't fly there. This is already as fast as it gets."

He went quiet again. "Get there anyway. I'll call the client and see what I can do."

I hung up, ran five minutes, found the next stand, scanned a bike, and pedaled hard enough to strike sparks.

At ten twenty I reached the bid site. The client had already sealed the box.

Trevor's call came in.

I could barely get a full sentence out.

"Just got here. They've sealed it."

His voice was frantic.

"The client says no. There are officials from the Department of Housing and Construction here. There's no bending it."

I crouched down outside the doors of the bidding hall, sweat dripping off my chin.

Ten minutes later, Trevor messaged.

【The bid failed. No award.】

I stared at those words on my screen, and all at once the whole jolting, exhausted, headlong trip felt like a joke.

A sixty-eight-million-dollar project, gone.