But he did not say my name.

He looked directly into my eyes and chose to pretend we were strangers.

“Do you understand what you’re doing?” I asked him.

“I understand you came here without an appointment,” he said, loud enough for the staff to hear.

“I’m not going to let you disrupt an important morning.”

The security manager, a broad-shouldered man named Daniel Ruiz, arrived at Bridgett’s wave.

“Escort this visitor downstairs,” she ordered.

“She’s causing trouble.”

There are things you can forgive in private.

There are other things that show you precisely who someone becomes when he believes there will be no consequences.

Connor had seen my soaked clothes, heard the contempt in Bridgett’s voice, and still asked a guard to remove me from a building I was about to lead.

“Daniel,” I said, reading the name on his badge, “please keep the camera footage from the lobby, elevator, and executive corridor.

This morning’s footage must not be overwritten.”

He hesitated. “Ma’am?”