“Likely.”
“Who authorized?”
“Signoff came from EVP Customer Strategy.”
Adrian knew the name.
Elliot Graves.
Fifty-six.
Polished.
MBA.
Two airlines before Meridian.
Adrian had recruited him.
“How many uses?”
Elena stared.
“Three hundred eighty-four.”
Adrian stopped walking.
“What?”
“In nine months.”
“How many seat changes?”
“Three hundred twelve.”
“Involuntary?”
“Hard to tell yet.”
“Complaints?”
“Forty-seven.”
Adrian felt sick.
“Why did only six reach me?”
“Because forty-one were closed below executive escalation.”
“By whom?”
Elena's face hardened.
“Mostly Graves's office.”
They reached private elevator.
Adrian said nothing until doors closed.
Then:
“Who knew?”
“Too early.”
“Mason?”
“We don't know.”
Vivian's husband.
Board member.
He had pushed aggressively for premium revenue strategy.
Adrian remembered three board meetings.
Words like yield optimization.
Client segmentation.
High-value retention.
He had agreed to all of those in principle.
Had he built the opening himself?
Elena seemed to read his face.
“Don't jump ahead.”
“I approved premium retention targets.”
“You did not approve seat theft.”
“I approved incentives.”
“That matters.”
“Yes.”
The elevator opened to parking garage.
Adrian’s driver waited.
He waved him away.
“I’ll drive.”
Elena handed him keys.
“You haven't slept.”
“I slept six hours.”
“That's not enough after being internationally humiliated.”
“International?”
“UK picked it up.”
“Great.”
They got in.
Adrian drove to a small house in Pasadena.
Not his.
His mother's.
Denise Brooks opened the door before he knocked.
Sixty-two.
Black American.
Retired postal supervisor.
Five-foot-four.
The only person in the world unimpressed by his title.
She looked at him.
Then at hoodie.
“Coffee?”
“Yes.”
“Did you wash it?”
“Not yet.”
“Take it off.”
“Mom.”
“You're not putting coffee on my sofa.”
He laughed despite everything.
She stepped aside.
Elena followed.
Denise hugged her first.
“My favorite lawyer.”
“Only lawyer.”
“Still.”
Adrian went upstairs and changed into an old gray college sweatshirt still in his childhood closet.
When he returned, Denise had made tea.
She placed a mug in front of him.
“So.”
Adrian sat.
“So.”
“You got thrown out of first class.”
“Almost.”
“On your own airline.”