The chat went quiet for a beat.

Then he added another line: "Prices are going up on everything these days. You people ought to raise yours too."

After the silence, the wind changed direction.

Someone piped up, echoing him:

"That's right, Ms. Rowe. Your company's huge. A hundred grand is just a word from you, isn't it? Why put your staff through all that hassle of moving?"

"We're small-time here. If you go, what are the rest of us supposed to do…"

"Ms. Rowe, why not calm down and try talking to the landlord again?"

I scrolled through them one by one, and the cold crept deeper into me.

Every one of those shops, I remembered.

The noodle place. Half a year ago it was one bad month from closing.

I had our admin team set up a group and rotate people through to give feedback, and the place came back from the dead.

The convenience store. Those first months after it opened, no business at all.

I signed an agreement so the whole company's staff purchases ran through her. That was what kept her afloat.

The coffee shop. I put money into it.

And now they were tagging me in the chat: "Ms. Rowe, think bigger."

"Don't let a little money sour things between us."

I couldn't help a small laugh.

Really something.

Then a few messages popped up in my private chat.

It was the owner of the flower shop I always went to, sending a careful little emoji: "Ms. Rowe, are you okay?"

I looked at the message, the corner of my mouth tugging up, and dialed a number.

"Any new buildings on the agent's end? The faster the better."

When John James, the agent, sent over photos of the fifth listing, I set the phone down after one glance.

"Ms. Rowe, I've combed this whole area for you," John sighed on the line.

"Either the square footage's too small, or the rent's even more insane than what you're paying now."

"I'll be straight with you." He dropped his voice.

"Yesterday I went to see that building. The talks were going fine. Then this morning the other side suddenly says they want twenty percent more."

"I asked what was going on. They got vague, said something about listings being in short supply around here."

I said nothing.

"That building's vacancy rate just cracked forty percent last month. In short supply?"

John didn't answer, but I had a pretty good idea by then.

A man Dirk's age, and still this small.

Except his word did carry weight.

Over the next two days I switched tack and started looking at parks farther out, but it was much the same.

The moment they heard it was my company, the price floated up.

As if the whole city knew I was in a hurry to leave.

Leila Fox from HR knocked and came in, her face grim.

"Ms. Rowe, I've got a few things to report."

"The tech team lead, Julian Whitney. Solomon Finch from supply chain. And Carter Perry, the veteran on the sales team."

"They all submitted their intent to resign this morning."

I froze for a moment. Julian was one of the earliest people who'd started this with me.

Solomon we'd poached at a high salary last year. Carter had been here six years.

"They all wrote 'personal reasons,' but when we talked off the record," Leila paused.

"They all brought up the relocation. Said the company feels unstable lately…"

"Some of them said the boss is dragging eight hundred-plus people through this just to spite the landlord, and they're afraid there'll be more of this kind of thing down the road."

I nodded, saying nothing.

Soon enough, a call came in from a client too.

Kevin Chavez. A client of three years, the new contract hammered out back at the start of the year, just short of the final signature.

"Ms. Rowe, I hear there's been some stir at your company lately? The staff are all saying you're moving?"

"There's a plan, yes."

"Oh… well, the contract, there's no rush on our end. How about we watch and see for a while?"

I hung up and leaned back against my chair, my temples pounding.

"Ms. Rowe, I just ran the numbers."

Finance Manager Dickerson had come in too, and he handed the report across the desk.

"If we relocate before the end of the month, once you count the lost deposit, the renovation, and the moving company, the one-time outlay comes to about this. I want you braced for it."

I glanced at the figure.

He kept going. "That's nearly double the total of a full year's rent increase."

The office went quiet for a few seconds.

He picked his words carefully.

"So I wanted to run something by you. This pay raise plan of ours, should we hold off for now?"

"Make it up once things settle? If we explain it clearly, everyone should understand."

I didn't answer.

My phone lit up. A message from Dirk.

"Kid, I hear you've been out looking at buildings for days now. Found anything that suits you?"

"If you want my two cents, stop wearing yourself out. Hold out any longer and it won't be ten grand anymore."

There was a little grinning emoji stuck on the end.

I didn't reply. I looked at the two people in front of me.

"The raises go through as planned, not a dollar short, into everyone's account this month."

Frederick Dickerson opened his mouth to say something. I raised a hand and stopped him.

"And HR sends out a notice today."

"The new site will be somewhere more convenient than this one. The commute and the amenities will only get better, not worse. I want everyone at ease about that."

"As for anyone who wants to leave, I won't force them to stay. Full severance, whatever they're owed. We do right by them."

Leila blinked, then nodded. "Understood."

The two of them exchanged a look, and neither pushed it any further.

Once they'd gone, I sent Ramona a message.

"No need to keep looking. That building you mentioned last time. Take me there tomorrow."

Early the next morning, I'd barely reached the office when I saw three people sitting on the couch.

Dirk, and my parents.

Dirk sat dead center, one leg crossed over the other, a done-deal smile on his face.

The second my mother saw me she was on her feet, grabbing my hand.

"Maddie, Uncle Dirk says you're moving? Everything's fine where you are, why move? You've been just fine here all these years."

My father stayed where he was on the couch, his face dark, and only cut me a look.

"Mom, what are you all doing here?"

"Uncle Dirk called us," she said, dropping her voice.

"Said you were throwing a fit at him over money, so of course I came straight over to see."

"Maddie, Uncle Dirk is family too, he's your uncle. Back when you first came here to start the company, he rented you the place cheap. Have you forgotten?"

I looked at Dirk.

He smiled at me and said nothing.

"Mom." I kept my tone as even as I could.

"He rented it to me cheap back then. I don't deny it. But in five years he's raised the rent more than ten times, and I paid every one of them in full."

"Rents everywhere around here are dropping now, and he's hiking mine ten grand a month. It's not that I won't pay. It's that it's not reasonable."

"What's ten grand?" My father spoke up suddenly.

"You've got a company of more than eight hundred people now. You can't cover a little money like that?"

"It's not that I can't cover it. It's that I can't cover it like this."

"What do you mean, can't?" My father slapped the coffee table.

"When Uncle Dirk helped us back then, why didn't you say no? Now that your wings have grown you won't even honor a little kindness?"

Dirk chimed in right on cue. "Zion Rowe, don't be angry, she's just a kid."

"Runs a company for a few years and thinks she's something. It's understandable."

He said understandable, but the sneer was practically spilling out of his voice.

My mother tugged at me quickly. "Maddie, just take this one piece of advice."

"It's only ten grand. You've been so obedient all these years, why now would you—"

"Mom, it's not that I won't listen."

"So you're doing this on purpose!" My father shot to his feet.

"Your brother wants to come work at your company and you won't let him. We let that go."

"You've been in business all these years. What has this family ever gotten out of you?"

"And now you can't even bend on a little rent for an elder. Is there any room in your heart for this family at all?"

I took a deep breath.

"If Joseph joins the company, is he even qualified? What exactly would he do there?"

"The money I've given this family all these years," I said, looking straight at my father.

"Joseph's wedding gift money came from me. His down payment came from me."

"Your surgery bills, I paid every cent. Your living expenses every month, which dollar of it didn't come from my transfers?"

My father's face went red, and no words came out.

Beside him, Dirk let out a cold laugh.

"Well now, big brother, your girl really has grown some wings since she made her money. If I were you, I'd have slapped her a long time ago."

The air froze.

Then my father's hand came up fast.

I didn't even have time to turn my head before it cracked across my face.

My mother screamed and lunged to grab his arm. "Have you lost your mind!"

His hand hung in the air after the blow, his lips trembling.

A moment later his tone went soft. "Maddie... just say yes to Uncle Dirk..."

He didn't finish.

I didn't say anything. My face burned where he'd hit me.

Dirk played generous beside him. "All right, all right, I'll knock a little off your utilities."

"You've had an agent look at that lot on the south side, haven't you? You know exactly what kind of dump that place is."

"Just wire the rent over like a good girl and we'll pretend none of this happened. A girl shouldn't push so hard. It's not becoming."

I stared at him, and then I laughed.

"Uncle Dirk, you're calling the south side a wasteland?"

"Five years ago, when I moved into your building, this whole area was a wasteland too."

"How do you know the place I'm moving to won't turn out just like yours?"

Dirk's smile froze on his face.

He grunted, flung his sleeve, and pushed out the door.

My mother looked at me, then at my father, and in the end said nothing, tugging him along as they left.

The office went quiet.

I walked to the window and touched the side of my face where he'd struck me. It burned like fire.

Then I picked up my phone and dialed a number.

"I want that building. We sign this week."

Once word of the move got out, the company's last few days weren't peaceful.

Seven more people left.

By the time HR Manager Fox handed me the list, I didn't feel much of anything.

In the exit interviews they all kept their heads down and said, "Ms. Rowe, I'm sorry."

The clients, on the other hand, were busier than before.

A few more calls came in, and I returned each one.

I told them the move wouldn't affect our ongoing work, that the contracts we were meant to sign wouldn't fall through.

They heard me out and said little, but no one brought up signing again.

People online started talking too.

A local startup-scene account ran a piece.

The headline read: An 800-Person Company Uproots Itself Over a Hundred Grand in Rent — Where's This Boss's Vision?