For eleven years I’d kept quiet in mahogany rooms while other people decided what my life was worth.

I shut the heavy leather lid of the suitcase.

I pressed down on the front flap until the dark brass locks snapped into place twice.

The morning flight landed at Kennedy forty minutes ahead of schedule.

By nine forty-five, the elevator doors were opening onto the twentieth floor of the Fifth Avenue building.

The double doors to the main boardroom were shut, but two junior associates were standing outside with leather clipboards.

They didn’t stop me when I pulled the brass handle and walked in.