Part 4 — They Fired Me for Coffee, but a Few Hours Later the Director Could Not Hide His Strange Pallor at the Board Meeting

But Renata was standing in front of me with both hands raised, as if she had touched nothing.

The corridor door opened.

Two federal inspectors entered, and behind them came the company’s head of security. Mauricio immediately tried to stand up.

“This is a private company meeting,” he said.

“Not anymore,” the senior inspector replied. “Put all electronic devices on the table.”

Mauricio instinctively moved his hand toward his pocket.

“I am the general director.”

“That is exactly why we are asking you first.”

His fingers placed the phone on the table. The last sent message was still open on the screen. The recipient’s name was not visible, but the time was: three minutes earlier.

Renata stepped back.

“I did not send anything.”

“The message is from your account,” Daniel said.

“My phone lay on the table all morning.”

Mauricio looked at her.

“Now you are blaming someone else?”

Fear and anger mixed on Renata’s face.

“You told me that everything was being done because of you.”

“I said nothing.”

The inspector raised his hand.

“Both of you be quiet. Your words are now going into the record.”

Mauricio immediately called the lawyer. The call went on for a long time. Finally the lawyer answered.

“Alfredo, there are federal inspectors here. I need you to come toward the building.”

There was silence on the other side of the line for several seconds.

“Mr. Landa, I have already seen the recording.”

“Then come faster.”

“I cannot come.”

Mauricio’s face changed.

“What do you mean, you cannot come?”

“It means that I am no longer remaining as your representative in this case. My signature is on the version of the document that you changed. This morning my assistant appeared at the audit service.”

“Alfredo, this is an order.”

“It is no longer an order. It is your result.”

The call ended.

For the first time Mauricio looked not angry, but empty.

Then the inspector turned on the computer and played the video again. He made everyone listen to their own words to the end. In the room where one hour earlier Mauricio had threatened everyone, his voice could now be heard:

“Carolina will leave before the retirement bonus… and the system will stop for several days… everyone will think it is her fault…”

!!! Part 4 — She left me in the emergency room and went to her lover, but when she returned, an empty space instead of my name was waiting for her, and she turned pale

Mauricio lowered his head.

“This conversation is taken out of context.”

“Which part?” I asked. “The part where you prepared my dismissal in advance, or the part where you knowingly spoke about the risk to the government contract?”

He looked at me as if he were seeing not an old employee, but a stranger.

“You did not want to do this. You were simply hurt by the humiliation.”

“I protected the system.”

“You took my company away.”

“No. You yourselves left the company without protection.”

The inspectors sealed the devices of Mauricio, Lucia, and Renata. No one was arrested that day. First, questioning, removal of documents, and an official investigation had to begin. But when Mauricio left the building, no one greeted him.

I, however, remained in the conference room.

The chairperson of the board placed a folder in front of me.

“Mrs. Mendez, we want you to take over the company’s temporary management.”

I did not touch the paper.

“No.”

“This is the best way for the system to be restored.”

“There is an instruction for restoring the system. There is no instruction for handing my life over again.”

“Then what do you demand?”

“Cancellation of the dismissal order, the full bonus, an independent investigation, and written acknowledgment that the violation was not committed by me.”

The chairperson nodded.

“You will receive them.”

“And one more thing. Never again use ‘restructuring’ to punish people who ask questions.”

Three weeks later my small apartment no longer looked out over Altavista. I moved from Monterrey to Guadalajara and began working at an independent auditing company. My new office was on the fourth floor, and on the windowsill I had a small pot with rosemary.

In the mornings I prepared coffee myself.

But after that I always took the cup with me.

The same ceramic cup on which was written: “Ethics is not a choice.” A thin crack appeared along the upper edge when it fell inside my bag as I left Altavista. I did not repair the crack. I wanted to remember that some things can still be useful after being broken.

!!! On Christmas Eve, my husband embraced another woman, and in the morning an attorney was left speechless by my actions

One evening my nephew Mateo, who had come to visit, put a sheet of paper on the table.

“Did you draw this?” I asked.

On the paper stood a large sun, a small house, and a woman. The woman held a cup in her hand.

“This is you,” Mateo said. “Now can you drink coffee calmly in the morning?”

His question struck me more strongly than any official letter.

“Now I can,” I answered. “Now I can.”

The trial began months later. The Federal Audit confirmed that my system had activated correctly and that the company had been responding to a deliberately created risk. Mauricio received financial sanctions, lost his position as director, and a case was opened against him for false documentation and deceptive management of a government contract. Lucia chose cooperation and gave testimony.

Renata denied everything at first.

Then she saw her own messages in court.

The message sent in my name had actually been created from Mauricio’s computer. Renata’s account had only been used as the recipient. This became the second piece of evidence showing how Mauricio had tried to transfer responsibility to her.

When Renata learned this, she called me.

“I know that an apology no longer matters,” she told me.

“Say you are sorry anyway, if you have something to say.”

“I thought you were the old system and we were the future.”

“The future is not the cancellation of rules.”

“You can use my testimony.”

“Use the truth. I do not need your protection.”

“I am afraid.”

“I know.”

“Do you not hate me?”

I was standing by the window. The city lights were slowly coming on.

“Hatred is too heavy a burden. I no longer carry it.”

Several months passed.

At my new job I taught employees how to protect the document chain so that no director’s mood would stand above the rule. Every Monday I saw the same type of coffee machine in the shared kitchen, the machine that once was supposed to end my career.

One day a new employee stood there worried.

“Can one drink coffee here?” he asked.

I laughed.

“If it is prohibited by the rule, we will change the rule first. But no one will fire you for that.”

!!! Part 4 — While crying at my husband’s grave, I saw him alive, but when he asked me to return home, my hand involuntarily began to tremble

The first snow came in December. Mateo called me again and said that on returning from school he had drawn a new version of the woman I had drawn. This time the woman no longer held a cup in her hand. The cup stood on the table, while the woman was walking toward the door.

“Where are you going now?” I asked.

“Wherever you yourself want,” he answered.