Professional documentation. Clean record. My fingers stopped.
The walk replayed itself in fragments. Rune's voice, steady but quiet.Soo-jin wasn't just management. There was a relationship. It ended eighteen months ago. His choice.
That was the same eighteen months since the disaster that destroyed my career. I added to my notes.
Principal disclosed prior relationship with senior management. Relationship terminated 18 months prior. Power dynamic: significant. Pattern indicates control disguised as care.
I stared at the words and then deleted them. They weren't mine to document. Not in notes that a court could subpoena and use as evidence in systems that wouldn't protect Rune.
I set the phone down. Pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes until I saw stars.
Rune had told me about Soo-jin, but he'd also told me something else.
I want to stop hiding. I want to stop pretending that compliance equals safety.
Rune was three floors up. Room 1704. I could call and check in. It would be a professional follow-up.
Liar.
Calling wouldn't be professional. I wanted to hear his voice. Confirmation that telling me about Soo-jin changed nothing between us.
I picked up my phone and located Eamon's number. The call connected on the second ring.
"Griffin. You okay?"
He was alert. He answered as if he'd been waiting.
I almost said yes, an automatic choice. "I need to walk through something."
"Go."
I turned my back to the window so I could see the door.
"The principal disclosed a prior relationship with senior management. It ended eighteen months ago, not by mutual decision. The manager framed it as protection for the principal and the group."
"Power dynamic?"
"Significant. The manager's been with the group since its formation. Controls access, scheduling, and the narrative. The principal was younger when it started."
Eamon was momentarily quiet. "Specifics of the breakup?"
"The manager decided they'd gotten too comfortable. He said someone would notice, eventually. It was better to end it quietly than risk exposure." My voice remained calm, while I was seething inside. "The principal understood it as erasure disguised as sacrifice."
"And the manager is still in proximity?"
"Yes."
"On a tour where the threat activity changed the moment you joined the detail."
I hadn't connected everything that explicitly. Hearing Eamon say it made the pattern sharpen into focus.
"There’s been no reported threatening message activity since my arrival," I said slowly. "Physical access incidents started instead."
"And the manager's been present for all of this?"
I thought back through the tour. San Francisco: Soo-jin in the wings during rehearsal, watching Rune with systematic attention. Vancouver: Immediately after the lighting malfunction, Soo-jin appeared backstage. Soo-jin at the morning briefing immediately following the hotel room breach, suggesting I might be overreacting.
Soo-jin appeared in the wake of every incident. He reframed them. Making them appear smaller than they were.
