Chapter 5

Brenda cornered me in the parking garage just as the sun was setting.

Liam had gone to pull the car around, and I was waiting near the exit. A white Volkswagen Golf suddenly screeched to a halt right in front of me.

Brenda scrambled out of the driver's seat.

"Nora," she gasped, blocking my path. "We need to talk."

I looked at my phone. A message from Liam read: "Slight traffic block, give me five minutes."

I typed a quick "Okay" and put the phone away.

"What do you want to talk about, Brenda?"

"The recording," she said, her voice shaking. "Can you delete it? Please."

I looked at her.

Three months ago, she sat in her high-backed leather chair, looking down at me like a queen dispensing a sentence. She had smiled that pitying smile, enjoying her power. Now, she stood in a dim parking garage, her face pale, driving a battered car, begging me.

"Delete it?" I asked. "Why should I?"

Her eyes welled with tears.

"Nora, I'm begging you. You know my family's situation. My husband was laid off last year, my son just started college, and we have twenty years left on our mortgage. I cannot lose this job."

"And?"

She blinked, taken aback.

"And..." She sniffled, wiping her nose. "Can't you just look at our history? We worked together for so many years—"

"Brenda," I interrupted her. "Three months ago, in your office, do you remember what you said to me?"

She turned even paler.

"'Take the money, go home, and find a good man,'" I quoted her, word for word. "'A woman can have a great career, but what’s the point if you’re thirty and don’t even have a family to go home to.'"

Her lips trembled, but she couldn't say a word.

"Why didn't you think about our history back then? Why didn't you show me any mercy?"

Tears finally spilled over her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Nora. I am so, so sorry. I didn't have a choice! The board set a quota for layoffs, and I was just following orders from above—"

"Orders from whom?"

She hesitated.

"Richard," I answered for her. "He was the one who put me on that list, wasn't he?"

She nodded frantically. "Yes! Yes, it was him. He specifically targeted you. He said you were single and 'unstable,' that you were at an age where you’d probably get pregnant and leave. I was just the executor, I swear—"

"And the things you said in that recording?"

She froze.

"'The company needs a younger vibe. A single woman your age is a liability.' You said those words, Brenda. No one forced you."

Her face went completely gray. "Nora..."

"Brenda," I said, staring at her cold eyes. "You're forty-six. By your own standards, shouldn't you have been 'optimized' a long time ago?"

She gasped, unable to find an answer.

"Submit your application," I said. "Whether you stay depends entirely on your qualifications. As for the recording—"

Headlights illuminated the dim garage. A sleek black Maybach rolled up smoothly, stopping a few feet away. Liam rolled down the window, looking at Brenda, then at me.

"Ready to go, honey?"

Without another word to Brenda, I opened the passenger door and slid in.

As we drove away, I caught a glimpse of her in the rearview mirror, standing frozen under the flickering garage lights.

"Was she crying?" Liam asked quietly.

"Yes."

"Feeling soft-hearted?"

I looked out the window at the city lights blurring past. "Not even a little."

He chuckled, reaching over to squeeze my hand. "What’s next?"

"Next," I said, "we wait for the Friday submissions."

He smirked. "They aren't going to make the cut, are they?"

I didn't answer.

Three months ago, I had walked out of this very building carrying a cardboard box in the middle of the night. I had promised myself I’d return.

Now I was back.

And this was only the beginning.