The Fire He Chose
"The Hale revision is only the beginning. There are three more files on your desk that require attention before Friday. You will handle them the same way you handled this morning. Cleanly. Without distraction. Without error. You will show everyone in this building, and everyone watching online, that you are too busy doing your job, too valuable to this firm, to entertain a bar fight. Your competence is the best answer."
He paused, his eyes softening just a fraction. It was such a small change that anyone else would have missed it.
Then he added, "If at any point the pressure becomes more than you can carry in silence, you tell me directly. Not Lena. Not anyone else. Me. Do you understand me,