“Grant’s team will contact you.”
Maya nodded.
Then Naomi walked out.
No speech.
No dramatic firing.
No customers applauding.
Michigan Avenue moved around her as though nothing extraordinary had occurred.
Cars.
Tourists.
Shopping bags.
Cold wind off the lake.
Naomi stood on the sidewalk holding the shoes and felt angrier outside than she had inside.
Her driver, Calvin Price, was waiting two blocks away.
She usually walked short distances alone.
When he saw her approach, he stepped from the car.
“Successful?”
Naomi lifted the bag.
“Technically.”
He opened the door.
She sat.
Calvin had worked with Naomi for seven years.
He understood her expressions.
“What happened?”
“Take me to headquarters.”
“You were supposed to go home.”
“I know.”
He closed the door.
Ten minutes into the drive, Naomi called Aurelia’s chief operating officer.
Michael Grant.
Not related to the regional VP.
Michael answered:
“You’re supposed to be off.”
“I need internal audit activated.”
Silence.
“What happened?”
“Michigan Avenue.”
“Which brand?”
“Bell & Hart.”
“What kind of issue?”
“Customer treatment.”
“Mine.”
Another silence.
Michael knew Naomi well enough not to overreact.
“Tell me.”
She did.
When she finished, Michael said:
“I can have Elaine suspended tonight.”
“No.”
“Not yet.”
“Lauren?”
“No.”
Michael paused.
“That is more restraint than I would have.”
“This isn’t about restraint.”
Naomi looked through the car window.
“It’s about not rewarding ourselves with an easy villain.”
Michael understood.
“You think it’s bigger.”
“I think a boutique director confidently invented a customer qualification rule in front of me.”
“I think a senior adviser lied about inventory.”
“And I think a junior employee looked afraid to contradict them.”
“That doesn’t grow in three minutes.”
Michael became quiet.
Naomi continued.
“Pull complaints.”
“Michigan Avenue first.”
“Twelve months.”
“Then Midwest premium stores.”
“Two years.”
“Look for language involving appointments, dress, payment assumptions, profiling, digital client scores, denied fittings, security calls.”
Michael sighed.
“That’s going to be ugly.”
“I know.”
“Board?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Legal?”
“Tonight.”
“PR?”
“No.”
Michael laughed once.
“Naomi.”
“No PR until we know what happened.”
“If somebody leaks it?”
“Then we say we’re investigating.”
“That’s true.”
She ended the call.
Aurelia Retail Group occupied six floors of a tower overlooking the river.
Naomi entered through a side lobby at 5:14 p.m.
Several employees recognized her.
A few said hello.
None knew she had just been asked to leave one of the company’s most profitable boutiques.
By 5:30, general counsel Rachel Kim sat across from Naomi.
Michael joined through video.
Chief people officer Sandra Lewis arrived carrying a laptop.
Naomi placed the shoe bag on the conference table.
Rachel looked at it.
“Those are the shoes?”
“Yes.”
“Nice.”
“They should be.”
“We charge enough.”
Sandra almost smiled.
Then Naomi told the story again.
She hated telling it the second time.