Director Calloway summons me to her office three days before the consortium meeting, and I know immediately it isn't a coincidence.
Her office sits one floor above where Ashworth once explained collections oversight with the same calm, reasonable menace. Calloway's version of that calm feels sharper somehow, more precise, like a blade kept deliberately unshowy until the moment it's actually needed.
"Mr. Arden." She doesn't stand when I enter, just gestures toward the chair across from her desk, already occupied with a neat stack of files I suspect are about me specifically. "Thank you for coming."
"Wasn't much of a choice, given who's asking."
"Everything's a choice. You've proven that well enough already, given how you chose to handle Casimir Voss." She folds her hands, studying me wi
