The Corner Office
The Family Discount

The First Signature

August 25, 2026 · Part 1 of 10 · 2 min

Naomi Delacroix signed her name for the first time as CEO of Corvid Industrial at 7:52 in the morning, before the coffee machine on the executive floor had even finished its cycle.

"Congratulations," the security guard said, sliding her a new badge. "Big shoes."

She didn't answer. She clipped the badge to her blazer and walked past the gallery of framed portraits — six CEOs in thirty years, the last one, Warrick Stennis, still hanging by the elevator bank like nobody had gotten around to taking him down.

Nobody had. Not officially. He'd "stepped back," the press release said. Retired with honors. A statue could've been more subtle.

Her assistant, a sharp-eyed woman named Dahlia Voss, met her outside the corner office with a stack of onboarding binders taller than a toddler.

"Finance flagged something in the vendor ledger before you got here," Dahlia said, dropping the top binder open to a tabbed page. "System kicked it out during the transition audit. I almost didn't show you — it's probably nothing."

"Show me anyway."

A supply contract. Forty million dollars. Structural components for three regional plants. Awarded fourteen months ago to a company called Lindqvist Fabrication Ltd.

Naomi frowned. "No competitive bid?"

"None on file."

"That's not nothing, Dahlia. That's forty million dollars handed out with no paper trail." She flipped the page, hunting for the vendor's history — prior contracts, safety certifications, anything. "Pull the vendor file. I want to see who Lindqvist Fabrication even is."

Dahlia hesitated, half a second too long.

"What?"

"I already tried. This morning, actually, before you got in — I was curious too." She lowered her voice like the hallway had ears. "The file's sealed. Executive-level access only. And it was locked the week Warrick submitted his resignation."

Naomi looked past her, down the hall, straight at the portrait by the elevator — that same composed, silver-haired smile that had shaken her hand twenty minutes ago at the welcome breakfast, wishing her luck.

"Get me executive access," she said quietly. "Today."

Continue the story Part 2: Sealed →

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