Victoria smiled.
“Pick it up.”
Maya did not.
Oliver shifted uneasily against her arm.
Maya watched the dog instead.
His breathing seemed faster.
Not severe.
But faster.
Victoria raised her phone.
“Actually, you know what?”
She tapped the screen.
“Let's document this.”
Maya almost smiled.
“That would be helpful.”
Victoria turned the camera toward her.
“Say your name again.”
“Maya Brooks.”
“And your position?”
Maya looked directly into the lens.
“You can ask management.”
Victoria laughed.
“This is unbelievable.”
She moved the phone closer.
“Look at this.”
She angled it so both of them were in frame.
“This employee is refusing to assist a sick dog.”
Maya said:
“That statement is false.”
Victoria’s expression sharpened.
“You're calling me a liar?”
“I’m correcting the recording.”
Several people had now gathered at a distance.
Nurses.
Technicians.
A resident veterinarian.
Nobody intervened.
That bothered Maya almost as much as Victoria.
Not because she expected them to rescue her.
Because they were scared.
That was data too.
Victoria shoved the phone closer.
“Pick up the file.”
“No.”
“You work for me.”
“No.”
“People like you work for people like me.”
The sentence landed harder than the folder.
The corridor became quiet.
Maya had heard versions before.
Usually less explicit.
At twenty-three:
You’re very articulate.
At twenty-seven:
Are you sure you're the doctor?
At thirty:
Can I speak to whoever owns the clinic?
At thirty-four, after her third hospital acquisition:
You must have incredible investors.
As though a Black woman could build a company only through somebody else's money.
Maya looked into Victoria’s phone camera.
“Keep recording.”
Victoria blinked.
“What?”
“Keep recording.”
“Gladly.”
“Good.”
Victoria smiled again.
“Your boss can watch me get you fired.”
Footsteps sounded at the far end of the corridor.
Fast.
Not running.
Close.
Maya did not turn.
Victoria did.
Richard Sloan was walking toward them.
Fifty.
White.
Regional president for the western division.
Charcoal suit.
No tie because Maya had told senior leaders months earlier to stop wearing ties inside clinical areas unless necessary.
Beside him was Dr. Jamal Price, forty-five, Black, the hospital’s medical director.