Chapter 1

Bored after graduating high school, I was sent to work in my family's manufacturing plant. I never expected to run into the girl who had made my life hell all through school.

With her uncle serving as the assembly line supervisor, she did everything she could to make my life miserable.

On the first day, she swapped our crates and blamed a pile of defective products on me.

On the second day, she lured me into the storage warehouse and tried to lock me in overnight.

She even went around spreading vicious rumors, snapping photos of me waiting in the parking lot and claiming I was the owner's sugar baby.

The joke was on her. The owner was my actual father.

1

“Hadley, get over here. Did you pack this crate?”

Our supervisor, Leonard Briggs, waved me over with a scowl on his face.

I looked at the large plastic tote behind him. It was piled high with sloppy, half-wrapped parts, their seal tape peeling off and leaving everything exposed.

A load like this would never pass quality control. During transport, the parts would spill right out of the bubble wrap, getting scratched and chipped.

If it shipped like this, the whole batch would be rejected and returned for rework.

The problem was, I had not packed that crate.

I glanced across the floor at Fallon Foster. When our eyes met, she did not even look away.

She stared right back at me, unable to hide the smug satisfaction dancing in her eyes.

I knew instantly that Fallon had swapped our crates again.

Ever since I transferred to this packaging line last night and ran into her, I knew trouble was coming.

A month ago, right after high school graduation, my mom got sick of seeing me lounge around the house all summer. She told my dad to take me to our family's factory and put me to work.

My dad originally wanted me to just sit in his air-conditioned office and chill.

Unfortunately, my mom checked the plant's security cameras on her phone.

When she saw that I had simply found a new place to lay around, she gave both my dad and me an earful.

With that plan ruined, I had no choice but to head down to the workshop floor like a regular worker.

After two days, my dad checked on me nearly eight times. Deciding the paint fumes in my first section were too strong, he moved me to this packaging line, which was safer and easier.

“How many times do I have to say this? Every tote has an ID tag on it!” Leonard grumbled, kicking at the plastic crate. “It is crystal clear who has the highest defect rate. Stop trying to act clever. So what if you are going to college?”

I kept my mouth shut, knelt down, and began pulling out the ruined pieces to repack them.

I had rarely visited my dad's factory before, so almost nobody recognized me.

Besides, it was summer break, and hiring student workers was standard practice. Everyone just assumed I was an ordinary summer temp.

I preferred keeping my identity secret anyway. Being treated like royalty on an assembly line sounded utterly awkward.

“Alright, stop packing new orders today,” Leonard barked, pointing toward the corner. “Go over there and fix this mess first.”

Leonard ran our line. He was not that old, but he was already half-bald, and whenever he yelled at workers, he loved stroking the few greasy hairs left on his scalp.

As soon as Leonard walked off, Fallon strutted over.

“Well, well, if it isn't Hadley Campbell,” she sneered. “Look at you, crouched in the corner doing rework. You were lousy at school, and now you can't even handle basic factory work.”

Fallon curled her lip, practically glowing with malice.