Chapter 5

The plant director's decision came at 9:15 on Thursday morning, fifteen minutes after my shift started.

I was on the line, feeding blanks into the stamping press, when Dale Whitmore appeared at my station. He didn't say anything. He just held up his phone so I could see the screen.

It was a formal notice, stamped with the corporate letterhead. "In accordance with company policy, the employment of Mark David Teller, shift supervisor, is hereby terminated. Cause: violation of safety protocols, retaliation, and conduct unbecoming of a representative of the company. Effective immediately."

I read it twice. Then a third time. The words didn't change.

"He's gone," Dale said, low enough that only I could hear him over the machinery. "HR processed it this morning. Corporate pushed it through overnight — the camera footage and the report were enough. He's not setting foot on this floor again."

I nodded, not trusting my voice. The press kept stamping, the conveyor kept moving, the world kept spinning on its axis. And somewhere in a back office, Mark Teller was finding out that twenty years of loyalty meant nothing when the proof was on paper.

"Diane?" Dale's voice pulled me back. "You did this. You know that, right? You, and Ellen, and the other people who stepped forward after you did. You broke it."

I wiped my hands on my jeans. "What happens now?"

"What happens now is the investigation gets wider." Dale crossed his arms. "Corporate is reviewing every shift Mark supervised over the last five years. Any report he filed, any disciplinary action he recommended, any promotion he blocked — it's all on the table. You want my guess? You're not the only one he scapegoated."

The name hit me like an echo. Scapegoated. That was what he'd been doing to me for fourteen years. Every late shipment, every scratched part, every minor issue on the line — it was always my fault. Not because I'd done anything wrong, but because Mark knew I wouldn't fight back.

And I hadn't. Until I had.