Chapter 8: Thursday
The Aurelia Systems main floor held just over three hundred people when the chairs were arranged in rows and the overflow stood along the walls.
I had asked Malcolm to keep the format simple.
No stage.
No microphone if possible.
Just a cleared space at the front of the room where I could stand and be seen.
He had managed it.
I stood at the front with Malcolm to my left and Garrett to my right.
The general counsel sat in the first row.
Every department was represented — finance, operations, communications, logistics, the floor teams who had kept the company's physical infrastructure running through eighteen months of uncertainty.
I looked at the room.
Three hundred people who had come to work every day not knowing whether the company would survive the week.
"I'll keep this short," I said.
"Because I think most of you are tired of things being complicated."
A ripple of something moved through the room.
Not quite laughter.
Recognition.
"Aurelia Systems is solvent," I said.
"The debt that was used to justify eighteen months of hiring freezes, canceled raises, and reduced benefits has been retired.
It was retired the afternoon before the anniversary event, when the acquisition closed." I paused.
"That debt should not have existed.
The circumstances that created it are now the subject of a federal investigation, and I won't discuss the specifics of that investigation today."
The room was very quiet.
"What I will tell you is this." I looked across the rows of faces.
"The people responsible for the financial decisions that put this company — and your livelihoods — at risk have been identified.
They are no longer employed here.
And they will face consequences that are specific, legal, and on the record."
Someone in the third row exhaled audibly.
"Effective immediately, the hiring freeze is lifted," I said.
"Compensation reviews will begin next month, with retroactive consideration for the period of the freeze.
The benefits that were reduced will be restored to their previous levels within sixty days." I paused.
"None of that fixes eighteen months.
I know that.
But it's where we start."
A woman near the back raised her hand.
"Yes," I said.
"Are you staying?" she asked.
"As majority owner.
Are you — are you going to be here?"
"I'm going to be involved," I said.
"I won't be here every day — Northstar has other holdings and I have responsibilities there.
But I will be present for every major decision this company makes.
And my door—" I glanced at Malcolm, "—or Malcolm's door, is open."
The woman nodded.
She didn't sit down right away.
She just stood there for a moment, and I understood that the question hadn't really been about logistics.
It had been: *Is someone watching now?
Is someone actually paying attention?*
"Yes," I said again, more quietly.
"I'm staying."
She sat down.
The questions continued for forty minutes.
Some were practical — benefits timelines, the hiring process, whether certain canceled projects would be reconsidered.
Some were harder.
One man from the finance department, who had clearly been holding the question for a long time, asked why the board hadn't seen the financial irregularities sooner.
I answered that one directly.
"Because the person responsible for concealing them was also the person responsible for reporting them to the board," I said.
"That's a structural failure, and it's one I intend to fix.
Independent financial oversight, reporting directly to the majority owner, starting next quarter."
Garrett nodded once from his seat.
After the meeting, as the room cleared, a woman stopped beside me near the door.
She was perhaps sixty, with the careful posture of someone who had been in the same role for a very long time.
"I've been here sixteen years," she said.
"I know," I said.
I had read the employee files.
"You're in accounts receivable.
You flagged a payment discrepancy in the vendor records fourteen months ago."
She blinked.
"It was dismissed," I said.
"By Derek's office.
I want you to know that flag is now part of the federal record.
And I want to thank you for making it."
Her jaw moved.
She pressed her lips together.
"I thought I'd made an error," she said.
"When it was dismissed, I thought I must have misread something."
"You didn't misread anything," I said.
"You were right."
She nodded.
Once, firmly.
Then she walked away.
I stood in the emptying room for a moment.
Malcolm appeared at my shoulder.
"How are you holding up?" he said.
"Ask me in six months," I said.
May you like
He smiled.
"Fair enough."
