— Lena, we’re going to have to part ways.
Gennady said it with that fatherly softness in his voice he always used when he was about to pull something nasty.
He leaned back in his massive chair, fingers laced over his stomach.
— We’ve decided the company needs a fresh perspective. New energy. You understand, right?
I looked at him — at his well-groomed face, at the expensive tie I had helped him pick for last year’s corporate party.
Do I understand? Oh yes, I did. I understood perfectly well that the investors had started talking about an independent audit, and he suddenly needed to get rid of the only person who saw the full picture. Me.
— I understand, — I replied evenly. — “New energy” being Katya from reception, who mixes up debit and credit, but is twenty-two and laughs at all your jokes?
He winced.
— This isn’t about age, Lena. It’s just… your approach is a bit outdated. We’re stuck in place. We need a breakthrough.
A breakthrough. He’d been repeating that word for the last six months. I had built this firm with him from scratch, back when we worked in a tiny office with peeling walls.
Now that the office was all sleek and glossy, I apparently no longer fit the décor.
— Fine, — I got up lightly, feeling everything inside me go still. — When should I clear my desk?
My calm clearly threw him off. He had expected tears, pleas, a scandal. All the things that would let him feel like the magnanimous victor.
— You can do it today. No rush. HR will prepare the papers. Severance, all as it should be.
I nodded and headed for the door. My hand was already on the handle when I turned back.
— You know, Gen, you’re right. The company really does need a breakthrough. And I think I’ll make sure it gets one.
He didn’t understand. Just gave me a patronizing smile.
In the open-plan office where about fifteen people worked, the atmosphere was tense. Everyone knew.
The girls avoided my eyes. I walked to my desk. A cardboard box was already waiting there. Efficient.
Silently, I began to pack my things: photos of my kids, my favorite mug, a stack of professional journals.
At the bottom of the box, I placed a small bouquet of lilies of the valley from my son — he’d brought it to me just yesterday, for no reason.
Then I took out what I’d prepared in advance: twelve red roses, one for each employee who had been with me all these years. And a thick black folder tied with strings.
I walked through the office, handing each person a flower.
I spoke quiet, simple words of thanks. Some hugged me, some cried. It felt like saying goodbye to family.
When I returned to my desk, only the folder was left in my hands. I took it, walked past my stunned colleagues, and went back to Gennady’s office.
The door was ajar. He was on the phone, laughing.
— Yes, the old guard is leaving… Yes, time to move on…
I didn’t knock. I just went in, walked up to his desk, and placed the folder right on his papers.
He looked up in surprise, cupping the phone with his hand.
— And what’s this?
— This, Gen, is my farewell gift. Instead of flowers. It’s a collection of all your “breakthroughs” over the last two years.
With figures, invoices, and dates. I think you’ll find it an interesting read. Especially the section on “flexible methodologies” for moving funds.
I turned and walked out. I could feel his gaze drilling into my back, shifting from the folder to me.
He said something into the phone and hung up abruptly. But I didn’t look back.
I walked through the office holding an empty cardboard box. Now everyone was looking at me.
In their eyes, I saw a mix of fear and secret admiration. On every desk, there was one of my red roses. It looked like a field of poppies after a battle.
Just as I was about to leave, the head IT guy, Sergey, caught up with me. A quiet man Gennady thought of as nothing more than a function.
A year ago, when Gen had tried to pin a hefty fine on him for a server crash that had actually been Gennady’s fault, I had brought proof and defended Sergey. He hadn’t forgotten.
— Elena Petrovna, — he said softly, — if you ever need anything… any data… cloud backups… you know where to find me.
I just nodded gratefully. It was the first voice of resistance.
At home, my husband and college-age son were waiting. They saw the box in my hands and understood everything.
— Well? Did it work? — my husband asked, taking the box from me.
— The first step’s done, — I said, taking off my shoes. — Now we wait.
My son, a future lawyer, hugged me.
— Mom, you’re amazing. I double-checked all the documents you put together. There’s no way out. No auditor will be able to find a flaw.
It was my son who had helped me organize the chaos of double bookkeeping I’d been secretly collecting for the past year.
All evening, I waited for the call. It didn’t come. I imagined him in his office, leafing through the pages, his groomed face slowly turning gray.
The call came at eleven at night. I put it on speaker.
— Lena? — there was no trace of his former softness. Just poorly concealed panic. — I looked at your… papers. Is this a joke? Blackmail?
— Such harsh words, Gen? — I replied calmly. — This isn’t blackmail. It’s an audit. A gift.
— You realize I can destroy you? For slander! For stealing documents!
— And you realize the originals of all those documents are no longer in my hands? And that if anything happens to me or my family, they’ll automatically be sent to some very interesting addresses? For example, the tax office.
And to your main investors.
There was heavy breathing on the other end.
— What do you want, Lena? Money? To come back?
— I want justice, Gen. I want you to return every penny you stole from the company. And I want you to resign. Quietly.
— You’ve lost your mind! — he squealed. — This is my company!
— It was OUR company, — I cut him off. — Until you decided your pocket mattered more. You have until tomorrow morning.
At nine a.m., I expect news of your resignation. If there’s none, the folder begins its journey. Good night.
I hung up before he could finish his strangled curses.
The morning brought no news. At 9:15, an email from Gennady appeared in my inbox.
Urgent all-staff meeting at ten. And a note addressed to me: “Come. Let’s see who wins.” He’d decided to go all in.
— And what will you do? — my husband asked.
— I’ll go, of course. Can’t miss my own premiere.
I put on my best pantsuit. I walked into the office at 9:55. Everyone was already in the conference room.
Gennady stood by the big screen. When he saw me, he grinned.
— Ah, here’s our heroine. Please, Lena, take a seat. We’re all very curious to hear how a CFO caught in incompetence tries to blackmail management.
He began his speech. Spoke pompously about trust I had supposedly betrayed. Waved my folder like a flag.
— Here! Look! A collection of slander from someone who can’t accept that their time has passed!
The room was silent. People lowered their eyes. They were ashamed, but afraid. I waited for him to pause for a sip of water. At that moment, I took out my phone and sent one word to Sergey: “Go.”
In the next instant, the screen behind Gennady went black, then lit up with a scanned document.
A payment order for non-existent “consulting services” to a shell company registered to his mother-in-law.
Gennady froze. On the screen, one after another, appeared documents: invoices for his personal trips, estimates for renovations to his country house, screenshots of chats discussing kickbacks.
— Wh… what is this? — he stammered.
— This, Gennady, is called “data visualization,” — I said loudly and clearly, rising to my feet. — You wanted a breakthrough?
Here it is. A breakthrough toward cleaning the company of theft. You said my approach was outdated? Maybe. I really am old-fashioned. I believe stealing is wrong.
I turned to my colleagues.
— I’m not asking you to take sides. I’ve just shown you the facts. Draw your own conclusions.
I placed my phone on the table.
— By the way, Gen, this is currently being sent to our investors’ emails. So I think resignation is the softest outcome you can hope for.
Gennady looked at the screen, then at me. His face had gone ashen. All his bluster collapsed, leaving only a small, frightened man.
I turned and walked to the door.
Sergey stood up first. Then Olga, our best sales manager, whom Gennady always tried to sideline. Then Andrey, the lead analyst whose reports Gen had passed off as his own.
Even quiet Marina from accounting, whom he had driven to tears over the smallest mistakes.
They weren’t following me. They were leaving him.
Two days later, I got a call from an unfamiliar man. He introduced himself as a crisis manager hired by the investors.
He informed me curtly that Gennady had been removed, the company was under investigation, and thanked me for “providing information.” He offered me my old job back to “help stabilize the situation.”
— Thank you for the offer, — I said. — But I prefer building from scratch, not cleaning up ruins.
The first months were tough. We worked out of a tiny rented office that reminded me of our early days.
My husband, my son, Sergey, and Olga — we worked twelve-hour days. The name of our consulting firm, “Audit and Order,” proved itself completely.
We found our first clients, proving our professionalism not with words but with results.
Sometimes I drive past our old office.
The sign has changed. The company didn’t survive the “breakthrough” and the scandal.
I wasn’t fired because of my age. I was fired because I was a mirror in which Gennady saw his incompetence and greed.
He just tried to shatter that mirror. But he forgot that shards have much sharper edges.
