Cassandra stopped.
Simone leaned back.
“You should understand something.”
“I do not fire people because I dislike them.”
“I do not keep people because I like them.”
“Evidence decides.”
Cassandra crossed her arms.
“Then you’ll find nothing.”
Simone smiled faintly.
“I hope so.”
Cassandra did not return the smile.
At noon, the acquisition announcement went public.
Employees gathered in showroom.
Simone stood beneath lights beside the same white sedan.
The microfiber towel was still folded on a detailing cart.
Someone had moved it.
Simone moved it back.
That detail mattered to her for reasons nobody else understood.
Martin introduced her.
Applause followed.
Uncertain at first.
Then stronger.
Simone waited.
“Thank you.”
The room quieted.
“I know acquisitions make people nervous.”
“No speech changes that.”
“So I won't tell you nothing will change.”
“Things will.”
A few employees shifted.
Simone continued.
“But I will tell you how.”
“We will measure what we claim.”
“We will pay people for work we actually ask them to do.”
“We will not hide fees behind clever language.”
“We will not treat customer complaints as personal attacks.”
“And nobody in this building is too important to be questioned.”
Her eyes moved briefly toward Cassandra.
Then away.
“Including me.”
An employee near service raised hand hesitantly.
Simone smiled.
“You don’t need permission, but go ahead.”
A few people laughed.
The young man asked:
“Are jobs being cut?”
“No planned cuts.”
“What about commissions?”
“Being reviewed.”
Groans.
Simone smiled again.
“Review does not mean reduction.”
“It means I want to know whether incentives reward behavior we actually want.”
A finance manager asked: