All because I'd listed programming as a skill on my resume, I got loaned out to the Engineering Department the day I started.
For over a month I worked myself half to death, staying late at the office every single night.
Finally, I helped them crack the project.
The boss was thrilled and announced a two-million-dollar bonus pool.
Manager Lambert, who hadn't lifted a finger, took the biggest cut.
Even the lowest-paid engineer walked away with fifty grand.
And me? I got sent back to my old department.
With nothing.
It sat wrong in my chest, so I went to find Manager Lambert and ask for an explanation.
Instead, I overheard him chatting with his people.
"Manager Lambert, Susannah helped us out big time, but she didn't get a single dollar of the bonus. Aren't you worried she'll have something to say about it?"
Lambert let out a cold laugh.
"Something to say? She's a little girl. What's she going to say?"
"Besides, she's Finance's problem, not mine."
"You know the saying, the capable ones get the extra work. It's her own fault for being gullible enough to come running the second someone sweet-talked her."
——
I stood outside the door. The laughter that kept spilling out felt like needles pressing into my chest.
One of the engineers spoke up. "Manager Lambert, you might want to keep that kind of talk behind closed doors."
"So what if someone hears?" Lambert's tone was breezy, careless. "She's a fresh grad. What kind of waves is she going to make?"
"You think she'd actually have the nerve to go up against me?"
I drew a long breath and turned away.
Passing the main bullpen on my way out, I caught a glimpse through the glass door of a few engineers huddled together, talking.
On the desk sat their freshly issued bonus envelopes, fat and stuffed.
One of them spotted me walking by. His eyes flickered, and he dropped his gaze without a word.
I didn't slow down. I just kept walking.
Back in the Finance Department, my workstation sat in the corner.
Two desks shoved together, piled with leftover file boxes and a printer nobody else wanted.
I'd been borrowed out my very first day on the job. Marilyn Lawrence, the woman at the next desk over, had cleared the space for me as a favor.
She came over now with her mug, giving me a once-over. "Susannah, you don't look so good."
"I'm fine, Marilyn."
I sat down and turned on my computer.
"I heard Engineering got their bonuses?" She dropped her voice. "Two million!"
"How much did you get?"
I shook my head. "Not a cent."
Marilyn didn't press. She took her mug and walked away.
She'd been at the company long enough to have seen this kind of thing before.
I stared at the monitor, Lambert's words looping through my head on repeat.
She's a little girl. What's she going to say?
She's not mine.
Gullible enough to come running the second someone sweet-talked her.
My mind drifted back to my first day, when I'd barely set foot in Finance before my phone rang.
"Susannah Simmons? This is Paul Lambert, Engineering Department Manager. I need you up on the third floor. Now."
I'd hesitated. "Manager Lambert, I haven't even—"
"I know. I already cleared it with your Director Finch."
"Get up here. The project's urgent."
I didn't think twice. I put down my bag and went.
When I pushed open the Engineering Department door, the smell hit me first: stale cigarette smoke layered over instant noodles.
Blueprints covered every surface. Half a dozen people crowded around the tables, eyes bloodshot.
Lambert sat in the private office at the far end.
He saw me through the glass partition and waved me in.
I stepped inside. He was leaning back in his swivel chair, legs crossed, a cup of hot tea steaming in front of him.
"Simmons, right? I saw on your resume you've got a programming background. Won some award in college?"
I answered honestly. "Yes, second prize at the state competition. I taught myself to code. It's more of a hobby, really."
"Good enough." He jerked his chin toward the bullpen. "This project's worth a hundred million. The client's breathing down our necks. We've been grinding for a week straight and the progress is still stuck."
