Leonard shut the door behind them.
“Listen,” he said, already annoyed. “I think there may have been some crossed wires today.”
Olivia remained standing.
“I agree,” she said. “So let’s review.”
She opened her notebook.
“I was redirected at reception despite being on your calendar.”
Leonard shifted.
“I waited forty-five minutes while later arrivals were escorted to executive seating.”
“That was a scheduling error.”
“You placed me in a downgraded room.”
“No disrespect was intended.”
“You explained your product to me as if I were unfamiliar with basic technology.”
He opened his mouth.
She kept going.
“You dismissed my financial questions.”
“You repeatedly reframed my presence as diversity-related rather than investment-related.”
“You introduced me by first name only.”
“You asked for my perspective as a token instead of as a business professional.”
“You made a racial remark about coffee.”
His face tightened.
“And then,” Olivia said, “you refused my handshake while offering one to another man and said, in front of witnesses, that you don’t shake hands with staff.”
Leonard’s color changed by degrees.
First annoyance.
Then defensiveness.
Then the first thin wash of fear.
Olivia closed the notebook.
“I recorded our interactions legally under local law,” she said. “And I’ve already sent the file to my team.”
His phone buzzed.
He ignored it.
Then it buzzed again.
And again.
He pulled it out.
The screen was full of alerts.
He frowned.
“What is this?”
“An early reaction,” Olivia said.
Leonard moved behind his desk and started typing.
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