They already had.
His salary cut had simply removed the last reason I had to hesitate.
Gregory stood and walked toward the window.
“You know what I think?” he said.
I waited.
“I think Hayes is using you to get to our accounts.”
“Then you should probably make sure your relationships with those accounts are strong.”
He turned around sharply.
It was the first openly angry expression I had seen from him.
“You’re getting arrogant.”
“No.
I’m leaving.”
That ended the meeting.
News traveled through the office before lunch.
I didn’t make an announcement.
I didn’t need to.
Emily appeared in my doorway around eleven, closed the door behind her, and stared at me.
“Is it true?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to Hayes?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened.
“As what?”
I hesitated only because I knew how quickly the answer would spread.
“Partner.”
Emily sat down without being invited.
Then she laughed once, softly, in disbelief.
“Oh, Gregory is going to lose his mind.”
“He’ll be fine.”
She gave me a look that said neither of us believed that.
Then her expression changed.
“What are we going to do?”
That question hurt more than anything Gregory had said.
Not because I regretted leaving.
Because I knew exactly what she meant.
Who was going to catch the promises now?
Who would tell a junior analyst that the impossible deadline wasn’t their personal failure?
Who would call Crestline before a mistake became a crisis?
I couldn’t solve that without remaining inside the same system that had finally made its view of me unmistakable.
“You’re better than you think you are,” I told her.
“But stop rescuing commitments you weren’t included in making.
Put the risks in writing.
Ask who approved the deadline.
Make people own their decisions.”
Emily nodded slowly.
It was advice I should have followed years earlier.
My final weeks were uncomfortable.
Gregory became unusually interested in documentation.
He asked for status reports on accounts he hadn’t discussed with me in months.
He inserted himself into calls.
He requested copies of calendars and transition notes.
I gave him everything that properly belonged to the company.
The more information he received, the more irritated he seemed.
Because documents were not the same as relationships.
On one North River call, Gregory interrupted three times while I explained a delayed vendor schedule.
Finally the client said, “Gregory, can Adrienne finish?”
