Chapter 17 - The Price of Being Quiet
For one foolish second, I imagined what two hundred fifty thousand dollars could do. We could remodel the small kitchen, replace the aging ovens, or give our staff a bonus big enough to matter. Then I remembered Camila missing rent while she waited for a paycheck she'd earned.
"No," I told Leah.
"Let me walk you through the terms before you decide."
I did. The agreement demanded confidentiality not only about the wine incident but also about every document and conversation involving Glasshouse. It attempted to restrict discussions with the company and others about suspected workplace issues. Leah said its enforceability was questionable and that it could not override lawful cooperation with investigators. The wording alone told me what Lauren wanted most.
"She wants the workers erased from the story," I said.
"It appears that way."
Jonah came home late that evening and found me sitting on the kitchen floor beside our dog, who had never cared about contracts. He lowered himself beside me without asking a question.
"I keep thinking about the girl I was," I said. "She would've taken the money just to make the laughing stop."
"That girl survived," he said. "But you don't owe her the same choice now."
We sat there until the dog decided we'd been sad long enough and demanded dinner.
The next morning, Leah sent a narrow response rejecting the offer and preserving our rights. Separately, Denise continued representing Camila and other workers. They weren't our employees, and it mattered that their case belonged to them, not to my feud with Lauren.
By lunch, Lauren had removed her original photograph. A small correction appeared beneath the deleted post. It didn't acknowledge what she'd done; it said only that the incident had been "misunderstood."
May you like
Then Tessa forwarded an email from a former Glasshouse employee. It contained a short video taken at a staff meeting months earlier. Lauren stood before a roomful of cleaners, smiling.
"If you don't like the hours," she told them, "there are fifty people outside who'll take your place."
