Chapter 4 - The Ultimatums
The heavy silence that followed Vance’s shout hung thick in the air, punctuated only by the distant rumble of thunder outside the terminal glass.
Emily stood her ground. She looked down at the old woman, who remained seated on the metal bench. The woman had not flinched during Vance’s outburst. She was watching the two of them with an unblinking, calm scrutiny, her hands still resting on her leather bag.
Emily looked back at Vance. She thought of her rent payment due in six days. She thought of the two years she had poured into this airline, working sixty-hour weeks, taking overnight shifts no one else wanted, enduring abuse from stressed passengers, all in the hope of earning a promotion to international flight coordination.
If she walked away from this bench right now, if she stepped past that shivering old woman and marched back to Gate 22, she would keep her job. She would keep her health insurance. She would keep her career path intact.
All she had to do was ignore her own humanity.
Vance watched her face, a smug, triumphant smirk beginning to curl the corner of his lips. He believed he knew the exact math running through her head. He had broken dozens of young agents before her using the exact same threat. Fear was his most effective managerial tool.
"Well?" Vance sneered, adjusting the golden cufflinks on his sleeves. "Are you going back to the desk, or are you going to keep standing there holding hands with garbage?"
Emily swallowed hard. The color drained from her cheeks, but her shoulders did not slump. Instead, she pulled herself up straight, her chest expanding as she took a deep, clear breath.
She looked Vance directly in the eye.
"I can't just leave her here," Emily said. Her voice was not loud, but it was crystal clear, ringing out across the concourse like a silver bell.
Vance’s smirk instantly vanished. His eyes widened slightly in genuine disbelief, his face flushing a deeper, angrier shade of crimson.
"What did you just say?" he whispered dangerously.
"I said I can't leave her," Emily repeated firmly. "She needs help. If North Atlantic Airways fires me for giving a cold woman a bottle of water, then this isn't an airline I want to work for anyway."
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Vance nodded slowly, his teeth grinding together so hard his jaw muscles bulged.
"Fine," Vance spat, his voice dropping into a cold, venomous hiss. "You made your choice. You're fired."
