Sivio stayed in his chair while Sandro took the woman by the arm.
She made a sound like a startled kettle, and the leash went flying.
The phone hit the floor face up. The dog started barking at Sandro's ankle.
Winnie: Tater. No. Sit. Please sit, you little bastard.
Sandro ran his hands down her sides, quick and businesslike, and came up with the phone.
Sandro: Boss. You want to see this.
A red dot blinked in the corner of the screen. Numbers scrolled under it, faster than he could read.
Sandro: She's live. Twelve hundred people, give or take.
Winnie: So. Yeah. That's live. And it's in my pocket, and my pocket is on the floor.
Winnie: If I go missing, that's a whole thing. Cops. News. My boss. She's mean as shit.
Carlo came off the wall like he'd been waiting all night for permission.
Carlo: Give me that. I'll break the fucking thing, and her fingers with it.
Sivio held up two fingers. Carlo stopped mid-step like the floor had turned to glue.
Sivio: You'll do nothing. Sit down.
He stood up, and the room got smaller.
Her hands were shaking. She hid them behind her back anyway, which he noticed, and liked.
He picked up the phone himself and held it between their faces.
Sivio: Twelve hundred people are watching me threaten a dog rescuer. How does that look for me.
Winnie: Honestly? Bad. You look like a guy who hits people in a room with no windows.
Winnie: But the dog's cute, so it's a wash.
Sivio laughed.
Not a small one, either. It came out of his chest and filled the room, and every man in it stared like he'd lost his fucking mind.
Sandro: Boss.
Sivio: Give it back to her.
Sandro did it slowly, the way you'd hand a kid a knife.
Winnie: Okay. Wow. Thank you. Is this the part where you shoot me, or the part where you don't.
Sivio: I haven't decided. What's your name.
Winnie: Winnie. Winnie Brask.
He said it back to her, low, and watched her face do something complicated.
*She should be crying. Instead she's holding that phone like it's a door she can slam.*
Sivio: You walked into my meeting. You saw a man bleed.
Sivio: And your first thought was to keep the camera rolling.
Winnie: My first thought was oh shit. My second thought was the camera.
Winnie: I'm not brave. I'm just slow to panic.
He put his hand on the doorframe above her head, close enough that she had to look up.
Sivio: You're the worst thing that's walked through that door in a year.
Winnie: Thanks?
Sivio: Don't thank me yet.
*He had a hundred ways to end this. He picked the one that kept her talking.*