Chapter 9 - Claire Explains Why She Waited
Claire apologized to me.
She had noticed odd documents months earlier.
Why not tell me then?
Because she was afraid.
Mortgage.
Two teenagers.
Health insurance.
Six years at Northgate.
Travis had never threatened her directly.
He did not need to.
Everyone watched what happened to people who challenged him.
They lost access.
Meetings disappeared from calendars.
Responsibilities shifted.
Eventually they left.
Claire kept telling herself she needed proof.
Then Travis asked her to backdate the board consent.
That was the line.
I understood fear.
I did not tell her waiting was fine.
It was not.
But courage that arrives late can still matter.
She had preserved emails lawfully available through her role.
She had reported concerns through counsel.
She had warned me.
She had hidden me under the desk.
That last decision was reckless.
Rachel nearly exploded when she heard it.
Claire admitted that too.
May you like
We stopped romanticizing the desk.
Evidence should not require an employee to put herself in danger.
