He drew a breath. And said—
“I’m not coming back.”
The words walked out of his chest before fear could tackle them. For a heartbeat, nobody moved.
The camera caught everything—his cracked front steps, the faded red of his jacket, the way his hand was braced on the doorframe like the house was the only thing keeping him upright. Comments flooded the screen in Victoria’s hand:
*WHAT??*
*take the bag dude*
*respect*
*king behavior*
*wait why??*
Victoria blinked, live in front of a hundred thousand strangers, and for once she didn’t seem to know what to do. “Jack,” she said carefully, “you… you don’t want your job back?”
Behind him, Lila’s head appeared a little higher in the hallway, eyes wide.
“I don’t want the old job,” he said. “Not the one where people like me are just ‘liabilities’ on a spreadsheet.”
Her jaw tightened; the word had obviously hit home. She’d used it in that meeting—he remembered the way it had landed: *You’re a liability we can’t afford, Mr.
Rowan.*
He stepped a little closer to the doorway, into the frame. Not to play to the audience, but because he suddenly wanted whoever was out there watching to stop squinting at the edges and see exactly what he was choosing. “You’re offering me money,” he said.
“Half a million dollars. A promotion. Back pay.
That’s… a lot.” His voice roughened on the last word. Rent, medical bills, the overdue electricity notice on the fridge—all of it crowded in. “But this isn’t about me getting a nicer truck.”
Lila’s stuffed fox fell from her hand.
She didn’t even notice. “This is about why you fired me in the first place,” he continued. “I told you there was a problem with that electrical system.
I wrote it up. I sent emails. I begged the manager to shut the floor down until it was fixed.
You called me disloyal. Said I was undermining morale. ‘Integrity, not excuses,’ remember?”
He saw her flinch.
“You didn’t fire me because I was wrong,” he said. “You fired me because if I was right, fixing it would cost you more than getting rid of me.”
On the phone in her hand, the comments slowed, like even the internet had leaned in. Victoria swallowed.
Her voice, when it came, was stripped of all boardroom polish. “I know,” she said. “And I am… so, so sorry.”
The words sounded like they’d had to wade through broken glass to get out.
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