4: 4
4
Rachel pushed the settlement statement across the desk toward me.
"Pay the full twelve thousand before eight tonight, and sign an apology statement. Then Baby won't come after you."
I took out my phone and snapped a few shots of the statement.
Constance slapped her hand down over the paper.
"Internal company documents can't leave this building!"
"This is my pay statement. I'll photograph it if I want."
I uploaded the photos to the cloud and turned to leave, but Abigail was blocking the doorway.
"You owe money and think you can just walk out? No transfer today, and you're not getting through this door."
Fine. If they wouldn't play nice, they couldn't blame me for not playing fair.
I reached back and dialed the police.
"Go ahead, keep standing there. Let's see who the cops arrest when they show up, you or me."
Her face changed and she stepped aside, but Constance chased me all the way to the elevator, still throwing out warnings.
"You just graduated. You really want the whole world to know about this? Baby knows plenty of people in the industry. If she wants, you won't even make it into another interview."
I looked at her without a flicker of fear.
"Go ahead and try."
Half an hour later, the company account posted a video.
It was nothing but a clip of Rachel crying about being bullied by an intern, and the title used my full name and my school.
"Cecilia Fox, seven days on the job, destroyed company equipment, then threatened her boss after failing to extort her wages."
The paid trolls flooded in.
"College kids these days are impossible. The company trained her for seven days and she wouldn't even say happy birthday. Who would ever hire someone like that?"
Right after, a message came from the company I'd already lined up an interview with.
"Sorry, our position isn't a fit for you at the moment."
Before I could reply, my mother called, her voice shaking.
"Cece, your boss just called me. She said you smashed something and now you owe the company twelve thousand. Are you in trouble?"
Rachel had actually dug up my mom's number.
"Mom, stay out of it. She's lying to you."
"But she sent me the whole statement. She said it'll hurt your job search later. We've got some money at home. Why don't I just pay it for you first?"
"Don't pay a cent!"
My voice came out too loud, and it startled my mother into silence.
I steadied my breath.
"I don't owe a single dollar of this. Block her number. I'll handle the rest."
The moment I hung up, Constance sent another image, a Voluntary Resignation and Damage Compensation Confirmation, with a note attached beneath it.
"If it isn't signed before eight, the company will report you to the industry group, your university career office, and the relevant platforms. Baby is happy to give young people a chance, but she won't coddle bad kids."
I stared at those two words, bad kids, and the fire in my chest shot straight up.
Baby, baby. Her mother's baby.
The whole company was happy to kiss her feet, and she'd actually started believing she was a baby.
I decided to strike first. I posted my pay statement online with the company's full name right there.
"Seven days on the job. Pay: 886 dollars. My boss wanted me to fork over 9,999 for her birthday. When I refused, she pushed me out, and demanded I cover the losses from her birthday party. After I quit, I somehow owe the company 12,313 dollars."
The second it went up, private messages started popping in one after another.
"You got fired on your birthday too?"
"Rachel scammed a new hire again this year?"
Soon a person named Nancy Pruitt pulled me into a group.
The group was called Adults Fired by Baby.
Twenty-seven people in it.
One had been nine days in before getting hit for 6,666 in lunar-calendar birthday money. One had worked half a month and put three thousand toward a gift for Rachel's dog. Another had just handed over 9,999 as a welcome gift to the team, and the very next day was let go for "not adapting to the company culture."
The group owner sent over a hiring timeline, and the further down I read, the colder my palms went.
Rachel always picked a certain point to have Constance run a batch of intern hires, and once the new people had settled into the work, she'd start collecting money on one pretext or another.
Those willing to pay got a reason to be fired after the event was over. Those unwilling had their entire wages withheld, then got handed a settlement statement showing they owed the company instead.
Over five years, they'd taken more than four hundred thousand from former employees.
A livestream alert suddenly popped up at the top of my screen.
"Baby extorted by a vicious intern. Live clarification tonight at eight."
Rachel sat in front of the camera, crying as she held up a photo of me.
"Family, Baby is really so scared. She's still spreading lies about me online right now."
The group owner asked me,
"You dare to hop on the call?"
I looked at that woman still calling herself Baby, gave a cold laugh, and hit apply.
