Chapter 8 - The New Corporate OrderBy the end of the week, the entire corporate culture at Lakeview Data Systems had undergone a seismic shift.
With Derek Lawson gone and a new corporate policy enacted—enforced personally by Claire Holloway and backed by CEO Malcolm Reed—middle management could no longer rule by intimidation. Performance reviews now required peer feedback, and arbitrary firings were a thing of the past.
Yet, despite the whispers, the rumors, and the undeniable reality that Ethan Cole could have bought and sold every car in the parking lot, nothing about Ethan’s daily routine changed.
He still arrived at 8:58 AM.
He still ate ham sandwiches from home during lunch.
He still helped Nina debug her inventory scripts without ever mentioning that he had written the original source code back in a Milwaukee garage twenty-one years ago.
On Friday afternoon, just before five o'clock, Claire Holloway walked onto the floor. She wasn't carrying clipboards or wearing her intimidating trench coat; she carried a simple manila folder.
She walked past the glass corner offices—which still remained vacant while the board searched for a manager who actually understood human decency—and stopped at Ethan’s cubicle.
“The quarterly audit reports are in,” Claire said, laying the folder on his desk. “And thanks to your updated tracking algorithms, regional efficiency is up thirty-four percent.”
“Good,” Ethan said, saving his spreadsheet and shutting down his terminal. “Data doesn’t lie when you give it the right framework.”
Claire looked down at the framed photograph of Sarah and Lily, then back up at Ethan.
“Malcolm asked me to ask you... just once more. Are you sure you don’t want to take over the Chicago regional directorship officially? You wouldn’t even have to leave the building. We can clear out the top-floor suite.”
May you like
Ethan smiled, picking up his empty coffee mug and his jacket.
“No, Claire. Up there, you spend all your time looking down at the city. Down here, you actually get to see how it moves.”
