Chapter 4 - Forty-Seven Complaints
Forty-seven.
That number changed the room.
Vanessa could dismiss one employee as sensitive.
Two as disgruntled.
Three as confused.
Forty-seven was a pattern.
The complaints covered nine months.
Insults.
Threats.
False accusations.
Demands that employees be disciplined.
One incident involved a nineteen-year-old intern Vanessa had reduced to tears.
Another involved a pregnant banquet worker whom Vanessa forced to stand through a forty-minute argument because she didn't like her table placement.
Vanessa shook her head.
“This is insane.”
I handed the folder to Evelyn Shaw.
“Our legal department will review every report.”
Vanessa turned toward Richard.
“Say something.”
Richard stared at the floor.
“Richard!”
He finally looked at her.
“How many times?”
“What?”
“How many times did you do this when I wasn't around?”
Vanessa's eyes widened.
“You're taking their side?”
“There shouldn't be sides.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Oh, please.”
Then her fear became anger.
That was the real Vanessa.
“You all enjoyed tonight because I gave you something to gossip about.”
Nobody answered.
“You think you're better than me?”
“No,” I said.
“I think we're responsible for how we treat people who can't do anything for us.”
Her eyes burned.
“Spare me the speech.”
I nodded.
“Fine.”
Then I turned toward the employees.
“Everyone scheduled tonight will be paid through the remainder of the shift. Anyone who wants to leave may.”
Nobody moved.
Vanessa looked around.
“Why are they staying?”
Mia answered.
“Because we want to see what happens.”
A few people laughed.
Even Alexander smiled.
Vanessa did not.
Then another surprise arrived.
A hotel security officer approached Evelyn.
“Ma'am, you need to see this.”
He handed her a tablet.
Evelyn watched several seconds.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She turned the screen toward me.
Security footage.
Vanessa near the service corridor twenty minutes before the champagne incident.
She was speaking to one of her friends.
The camera had no useful audio.
But her gestures were clear.
She pointed toward me.
Then toward her champagne.
Then laughed.
I watched again.
Vanessa hadn't lost her temper spontaneously.
She had planned the humiliation.
“Interesting,” Evelyn said.
Vanessa backed away.
“That proves nothing.”
“Perhaps.”
Then one of Vanessa's friends began crying.
Her name was Lauren.
Vanessa turned.
“What are you doing?”
Lauren looked at me.
“She told us she was going to make the maid kneel.”
Vanessa's face changed.
“Lauren.”
“She said it would be funny.”
“Shut up.”
“She wanted us to film it.”
“Lauren!”
Every phone in the room captured that shout.
Lauren flinched.
Then something remarkable happened.
She stopped being afraid.
“No.”
One word.
Quiet.
Powerful.
“No, Vanessa. I'm done.”
She walked away.
Vanessa stood alone.
But the night's biggest shock still hadn't arrived.
Because Evelyn had discovered something inside the complaint file that wasn't about rude behavior.
It involved Vale Capital.
May you like
And if the documents were genuine, Vanessa's humiliation of me would soon become the least serious problem in the room.
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