You nodded.
“Good.”
Denise studied you.
“Do you ever think about what would have happened if you had signed the form?”
You looked at the desk.
You could still see it.
The folder.
The cold air.
Lucia’s calm voice.
Your metal employee badge under fluorescent light.
“Yes,” you said.
“And?”
“I would have disappeared one small humiliation at a time.”
Denise said nothing.
You continued, “That’s how it works. They rarely destroy you all at once. They ask you to accept one insult. Then one lie. Then one smaller paycheck. Then one stolen credit. Then one quiet apology you never receive. Eventually, you forget what fair felt like.”
Denise nodded slowly.
“But you didn’t.”
“No,” you said. “I slept instead.”
She laughed.
So did you.
That afternoon, Alejandro called you into his office.
You entered with a tablet and a suspicious expression.
“If this is about the Miami influencer crisis, I already handled it.”
