Chapter 18 - The Midnight Cleanup
Before sunrise, lights were already on inside the regional headquarters.
Steven Grant rarely arrived before eight o'clock.
Today, he unlocked his office shortly after five.
Within minutes, two department managers joined him carrying stacks of personnel files.
"We don't have much time," Steven said quietly.
"What exactly are we looking for?" one manager asked.
Steven hesitated before answering.
"Anything that could be... misunderstood."
The room fell silent.
They began reviewing promotion records, interview notes, and internal performance evaluations.
At first, everything appeared routine.
Then one manager stopped.
"Steven..."
He held up a handwritten evaluation from three years earlier.
The original reviewer had written:
Outstanding leadership potential. Strong mentoring skills. Recommended for department manager.
Across those words, someone had later added a note in different handwriting:
Not aligned with future leadership direction. Recommend younger candidate.
No signature.
No explanation.
Only initials.
Steven immediately recognized them.
He quietly placed the document into another pile.
"Keep looking."
By seven-thirty, the conference table was covered with files marked for removal.
No one noticed the security camera above the records room quietly recording every movement.
Meanwhile, Margaret received a notification on her encrypted tablet.
Records accessed outside normal operating hours.
She read the alert without surprise.
"They've started cleaning," she said.
Her legal advisor looked up.
"Should we intervene?"
Margaret shook her head.
"No."
She smiled faintly.
"People reveal far more when they believe nobody is watching."
Across town, the security recordings were already being copied to an independent archive.
The investigation had entered a new phase.
Now the evidence would include not only what had happened over the years—
May you like
—but also what leaders chose to do once they realized the truth was closing in.
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