The promotion was announced at exactly nine a.m.
No warning. No soft launch. No gradual transition.
Just a company-wide email stamped with Julian Thorne's authority.
Iris Vale — Executive Strategy Liaison to the CEO. Effective immediately.
The wording was deliberate. Elevated. Impossible to misinterpret.
I read it twice from my desk before the whispers began.
They didn't try to hide it. Conversations dipped when I walked past. Eyes followed. Some curious. Some impressed. Some openly skeptical.
I had gone from invisible to unavoidable in a single line of text.
Elena appeared at my side mid-morning, her expression neutral but assessing. "Your office is being prepared on the executive floor."
"My office?" I asked quietly.
"Yes."
I swallowed the tightening in my chest. "That was fas
