Chapter 3

By eight the next morning, the front gate of the factory was pure chaos.

I'd barely pulled up when a wall of people blocked the car.

Theodore and Ruby had hired a few local influencers, tripods planted, cameras live.

Seven or eight banners hung on both sides of the gate, the red-ink lettering hard to miss.

"Sweatshop with a black heart, squeezing student labor dry!"

"Adelaide Sterling, you heartless boss, give us back our sweat and blood!"

Villagers and neighborhood women caught in the morning rush had circled around, pointing at the factory and talking.

Ruby leaned against the sliding gate with a fever patch stuck to her forehead, playing weak and dabbing at tears.

"Everyone in the livestream, please, be the judge of this!"

"We were working at over a hundred degrees in that shop, couldn't even get a sip of water."

"Boss Sterling not only cut our hot-weather pay, she won't settle our wages either,"

"and now she's forcing us out of the dorms! She's trying to push us to our deaths!"

The influencer shoved the camera right in Ruby's face and cranked up the emotion.

"You all seeing this? This is what a heartless company looks like today!"

"Everybody hit that follow button, we are going to get justice for these college kids!"

Theodore stood up on the flower bed with a bullhorn, shouting.

"Adelaide Sterling! Quit hiding like a coward! Get out here and face us!"

Rex was cowering in the guard booth, legs gone to jelly. The second I stepped out of the car, he rushed over with a thick envelope.

"Ms. Sterling, I'm begging you, please don't go out there and lock horns with them!"

"It's all over the internet now, they're tearing you apart! There's thirty thousand in cash here,"

"take it, split it among them, say a few soft words, and just make this go away!"

I pushed his hand and the money aside, straightened my collar, and walked out the gate with a flat face.

The moment they saw me, the crowd erupted in boos.

A few of the women pointed straight at my nose and started cursing.

"Dressed up all fancy, and a heart that black? Bullying kids like that!"

Theodore jumped down from the flower bed and swaggered up to me, aiming the bullhorn at my face.

"Adelaide Sterling, so you finally decided to show yourself?"

"You want us to calm the crowd and go back to work? Fine. Yesterday's terms are off the table. Today we do it my way!"

He fished a sheet of paper out of his pocket and flapped it in the air a few times.

"One, back-pay the hot-weather bonus, a thousand each!"

"Two, today counts as paid leave, plus two thousand each for emotional distress!"

"Three, right now, in front of this camera, you bow to every one of us and say you're sorry!"

Then he looked at me, daring me.

"Otherwise, not one truck leaves your yard today! Let's see how you make your deliveries!"

Watching him stand there so sure of himself, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Theodore, you really think a couple of streamers and a few banners are enough to back me into a corner?"

His face darkened, and he opened his mouth to start yelling.

Then a neighborhood district enforcement vehicle and a police car came screaming up and stopped at the edge of the crowd.

Ezra Lawrence from the labor inspection office pushed through with two officers.

The instant Theodore saw the officials arrive, he ran over and started pouring out his sob story.

"Officers, sir from the labor office, thank god you're here! We're the ones with no power in this!"

"The boss won't pay our bonus and she's laying us off illegally, you have to stand up for us!"

Ezra frowned at the banners, then turned to me, his expression sour.

"You're Boss Sterling? Come on, this is no way to do things out on the street. Let's talk in the mediation room."

Rex was still mopping cold sweat beside me, leaning in to plead.

"Ms. Sterling, the authorities are involved now. Just bow your head, quick."

"Sign the agreement, defuse this breach-of-contract bomb, that's what matters!"

I looked at Ruby, still fake-crying for the camera, and lowered my eyes.

"Fine. We'll talk in the security office."

I turned my head and gave the HR manager a few instructions.

"Bring me that blue briefcase on my desk. Everything inside it,"

"exactly as it is, bring it in."