the quiet marketing associate who blends into
rtieth floor. It's like the journey I took to get here, bu
the ground, I do what I've alway
than aski
I
shut. I step a
he asks, adjusting her skirt back down a
N
's a fuc
omething. Winked at something be
just drew it out of me. What a fucking irony-buried to t
t Oh. Cheeks flushing crimson, the black sliver of her open mouth
ad hurts from
go," I tel
ike I struck her
he knot in my tie. "You've done good work here, but it's time for you to explor
ce crumples in horror.
Ms. Bowman.
or the best that way. Keep them anonymous, keep them m
are about anything, th
or the
g women to see all the signs. The trembling lips, the red-
an enraged slash. I know what's c
're
sign." I point toward the door. "Thank you for yo
isten. Not happily. Not plea
s where the l
y computer. I didn't get a good look at the intruder's badge, but I know she came
e photos, searching for
o
hat o
he
er
ng Associate. Five years
oud, testing the
ree in Marketing and Design from Generic State University. Consistent if unremarkable pe
in my chai
gued by the fact that, on the surface,
n't stop pict
ed was a more delicious sound than anythin
ad never seen so
to find out how it
lse you're hiding
last name is on the building, certain rules become... flexible. A few keyst
akes me sit u
s of them. Not for Rowan, bu
tments. Exp
g de
apartment in the sleazy part of town where
eres
A barely-used Instagram with photos of coffee and d
man trapped by circumstance. Wo
portu
ather when he first came to America with noth
peak of the devil-
r," I
n, his accent drenched with snow and vod
finish
can see her silhouette through the frosted glass of my office window. She keeps peeki
a few short months, my father will step down
be my turn
. But it's not the promo
crown that I'll truly be salivatin
ation will breathlessly cover the transition of power. No Wall Street motherfucker i
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