Page 45 of Lumi

He was right. There was a reason I lived alone. I had hackles that came up around other people when I felt pressured.

“Are we done with the questions?”

“Aye, for day two, but today is day three, so we should do them as well.”

“Later.” I stood up. “I have work that I need to do.”

“On a Saturday?”

I stopped the video. “Yes, Damian. I work every day.”

“Why? Don’t ye people have office hours?”

“We do, but there are meetings to prepare for and emails to answer. Can we do the same thing that we did yesterday?”

“Aye, I can watch a movie while ye work, but after the movie, we’re having a picnic on the beach.”

“Please pick a long movie then.”

I uploaded the discussion video we had just recorded and sent it to Jolene from my phone before diving into my inbox on my computer.

Damian picked a Marvel movie and sat with headphones on, in his bubble while I answered emails.

One email with the headlineconfidentialmade me lengthen my spine to sit up a little straighter. I read it twice — each time feeling a chill run down my neck.

Dear Ms. Robertson,

I have something of an urgent and delicate nature that I would like to discuss with you. It involves corruption at the highest level in our company.

Ebany Wright

The name didn’t ring any bells, but clicking Ebany’s employee profile, I could tell she was in her mid-forties and had worked for the company for three years as an Acquisitions Manager.

I didn’t hesitate, but called Ebany up right away on Messenger and made sure to angle my screen so that she wouldn’t see Damian.

On the third ring, Ebany answered. She was a stylish black woman with glasses in bright yellow and hair shaved close to her scalp. The first thing she said was “Let me just close my door.”

While she disappeared from the screen, I poked Damian and signaled to him that I was on a call and needed him to be quiet.

He nodded and returned to his movie just as Ebany came back into view.

“I received your email.”

“Yes, I guessed that much. Thank you for calling me. I’ve been thinking long and hard about who to contact about this.”

“Why me? I’m not at the headquarters, and I don’t believe we’ve met, have we?”

“Not officially, but I’ve sat in on meetings where you’ve conducted yourself in an impressive manner that made me conclude that you’re a woman of high principle and strong moral.”

I tilted my head. Flattery was always a red flag for me.

Ebany touched the edges of her glasses. “What I’m trying to say is that you have a reputation of being fearless, strong, and sharp. Something I saw for myself at the leadership seminar when you stood up against John White. You might remember how he insisted that all female leaders should wear skirts and high heels, in order to signal that Solver Industries is a high class company.”

I had never been a fan of John White, the CEO of Solver Industries, and sighed. “Yes, I remember John’s suggestion.”

“Well, after that meeting where you told him that class has never been something people could simply achieve by buying new shoes and a dress, I wanted to stand up and cheer. And then, when you said that class was a personality trait that was exhibited by showing qualities such as being trustworthy, humble, respectful, and not least, on time, well, it was satisfying to hear someone in management finally call John out for being notoriously late to every meeting.”

“I’m glad you felt that way. Not everyone agreed with my approach.”