Chapter 8

Maren Voss sat in her car in the parking lot of her apartment complex, staring at the dashboard. She had been fired. She had surrendered her name tag and her badge. She had walked out of the airport past a crowd of people who had watched her collapse, and she had driven home in silence, the radio off, the roads blurring past.

Her phone buzzed. A message from an unknown number.

"We've reviewed your termination. The decision is final. Your final check will be mailed to your address on file. Your benefits will continue for thirty days. You are required to surrender any additional company property within fourteen days."

She read the message twice, then put the phone on the passenger seat. She sat in the car, staring at the steering wheel, thinking about twenty years of her life, twenty years of showing up, of doing the job, of believing that she mattered.

She thought about the slap. The crack of her palm against Sadie Okonkwo's cheek. The look in Sadie's eyes, the terrifying calm. She had seen that look and she hadn't understood it. She had thought it was weakness. She had thought it was fear.

She had been wrong.