“He is already looking for ways to streamline the nursing staff.”

“One word from me, and you’ll be looking for work in another state.”

He turned and walked away.

His heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway until a fire door clicked shut behind him.

The corridor felt suddenly empty.

The fluorescent lights hummed overhead.

I let out a long, shaky breath.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice barely a whisper.

“You don’t need to thank me,” Daniel said.

He rolled the paper back up and slid it into his bag.

“He shouldn’t have been speaking to you like that.”

“He has a way of making me feel like I’m losing my mind,” I admitted.

I looked down at my hands. They were still trembling.

“He is a bully,” Daniel said simply.

“How did you find out about the bids?” I asked.

“My firm does the structural reviews,” he said.

“We have to make sure the buildings are safe.”

“When the steel didn’t match the quality on the invoice, we started digging.”

He looked at me, his gray eyes searching my face.

“Are you going to be okay?”