But now, when they tested them, they found you.
A director tried to bury a harassment complaint.
You fired him.
A manager tried to label a pregnant employee “low flexibility risk.”
You froze his promotion.
Finance delayed contractor payments to improve quarterly cash flow.
You made the board read every contractor name out loud.
A celebrity threatened to leave unless a junior publicist was punished for refusing to lie to the press.
You told the celebrity good luck elsewhere.
Alejandro backed you publicly every time.
Privately, you fought often.
He still moved too fast. You still distrusted too quickly. He still believed some crises required elegance. You believed some fires deserved a hose and a witness statement.
But over time, something shifted.
He stopped asking, “Can we manage this quietly?”
He started asking, “What does the record show?”
That was progress.
One evening, six months after you returned, you found him alone in the auditorium after a company event.
