After that, Claire stopped answering my calls.
Now the message told me the punishment was complete.
Inside the West Wing, my deputy, Marcus, caught up with me.
“You look like you just buried someone.”
“Only an invitation.”
He held out a thick envelope. On the front was the silver logo of American Ledger magazine.
The issue would publish online at eight that night. I had agreed to the interview months earlier because the article focused on women defending public infrastructure from foreign cyberattacks. I had refused the cover.
The editor ignored me.
Across the glossy proof, beneath my photograph, the headline read:
THE WOMAN GUARDING AMERICA’S DIGITAL FRONT DOOR
I almost laughed.