The latch whispered again and the hallway chose a side.
Elias took the handwritten addendum and the runner matched his pace. Security kept the desk phone open to Comms. The CFO stood two paces out, polite as a stop sign.
"Wording one more time," Sofia said, pen above paper to mirror the page that was already moving.
"Ownership of the disputed weighting parameter resides with Nearlight Finance," Ava said. "Vendor confirms. Criteria v0.1 corrected at twelve thirty seven. Posted to appendix and pin."
Sofia wrote slow for clarity and boxed the time. Security nodded to a voice that none of them needed to hear.
"Comms ready for mirror," he said. "Console will post the image first."
The elevator blinked a floor below as if a thought had become a machine. Elias vanished into it with the runner and the bag, which felt like a small tradition already.
The CFO looked at the boxed time with a private kind of pity. "Documentation changes wait for the board," he said.
"Facts do not wait," Ava said.
The door opened a palm's width. Counsel did not step out. "Mr. Sterling," he said.
Noah reached the threshold and stopped where thresholds insist. His eyes found Ava's left shoulder, then the legal pad with LEDGER at the top. His hands were quiet.
"Instruction," he said.
"Name the correction," she said.
"Finance owns the disputed parameter," he said. "Vendor confirms. Corrected at twelve thirty seven."
"Name the footer," she said.
"Four hundred and thirteen," he said.
She tapped the pad's corner once. He nodded. Counsel's hand made a patient shape in the air.
"Inside," counsel said.
Noah went back in. The seam closed enough to become a promise again.
The desk phone breathed. Security listened and repeated so the hallway could own the sentence.
"Appendix image is up," he said. "Caption carries time. Comms mirrors to the pin now."
Sofia clipped a fresh print to the ledger page as if paper could be momentum. The header read APPENDIX v0.1 — CORRECTED. Beneath it, the small sentence they had written looked like it enjoyed being true.
The CFO's smile measured the room and found a number it liked less than zero. "You have exposed internal ownership without process," he said.
"We posted a control truth," Ava said. "The public now knows which knob belongs to which hand."
The phone purred again. Security turned the receiver for the space to hear.
"Vendor Ops public note," the voice said. "We confirm our separate publication at close. Language matches Nearlight's correction."
"Received," Sofia said, pen already moving. She clipped the vendor line under the appendix print and circled the time.
The elevator sighed. Elias returned with the runner at his shoulder and a quiet on his face that meant good work. "Appendix posted," he said. "Mirror live. No bands."
"Ledger footer," Ava said.
Sofia did the math and said the number aloud. "Four hundred and thirteen remains until Ivy Square and Silver Harbor," she said. "Footer updates when Riverlight posts photo to their own feed."
The CFO glanced at the legal pad and the pinned stack like a man checking locks. He touched his tie and chose a new tone.
"This board cannot run around after your sidewalk," he said. "We will remove the CEO if it buys us time."
"It does not buy you time," Ava said. "Work buys you time."
Vivian's aide appeared in the seam again, efficient as a clock. "Open portion in two minutes," she said. "The Chair requests a ten second summary for the room."
Ava lifted the legal pad so the aide could see the words that made a day into a map. "Criteria posted and corrected at twelve thirty seven," she said. "Redress framework live. Five receipts with footer sum. Public queue. Auditor note at close."
"Time," Sofia said.
"Twelve thirty eight," security said.
Sofia straightened the top page. The header from minutes ago sat like a small order they had already started to keep.
Receipts by Six.
The desk phone clicked once more. Comms spoke like a metronome.
"Pin shows appendix correction," the voice said. "Riverlight template live. Map updated for route. We can put an empty box labeled tenth receipt at the bottom to teach the eye."
"Do it," Ava said. "Make the space a promise."
The CFO breathed the way people do when they have practiced appearing calm in corridors. He looked at the door, then at the ledger, then at Ava.
"You are very composed for a contractor whose client may change shape," he said.
"I am very busy," she said.
The latch turned. The door opened wide. Vivian Kline stepped into the hall, reading the page as she walked.
"Let's see your receipts," she said.