Charles called me into his office on a Friday morning and gave me a key.
Not a physical key. A digital one, a twelve-character access code for the internal financial architecture of Damien Corporation's most restricted systems, the kind of access that sat two levels above what his senior executives held. He slid a card across the desk with the code printed on it in clean sans-serif type, and he did it the way he did everything, without explanation, without preamble, as though the significance of the gesture was self-evident and commentary would only diminish it.
I looked at the card.
I looked at him.
"You'll be managing the quarterly consolidation review," he said, returning to his laptop. "Full access to the primary ledger, the subsidiary accounts, and the holding structure. Clarissa will brief you on the reporting format. I want the preliminary analysis on my desk by the end of next week."
"Understood," I said.
I picked up the card and left.
