Nathaniel stopped.
His face had become very still.
Claire asked, “Did you say that?”
“Yes.”
“You remember?”
“Clearly.”
Nathaniel lowered the letter.
“I had grown up in rentals. My mother moved us seven times before I finished high school. When Graves Energy started acquiring employee housing, I promised myself we wouldn’t treat people like entries on a spreadsheet.”
He looked around Sofia’s modest conference room.
“And then I became busy enough to do exactly that.”
Nobody replied.
Nathaniel continued reading.
On the final page, Eleanor mentioned something none of them expected.
A meeting scheduled for the following Monday.
She had written:
I have finally found the original purchase authorization bearing your signature, together with the internal routing sheet showing who removed the cooperative file from your office. I will bring both.
Nathaniel slowly lowered the page.
Claire stared at him.
“The original authorization is in the file you already showed us.”
