Chapter 1

[Three thousand dollars? That’s way too little.]

Emily June dropped a screenshot into the group chat. Across the top, it read: [High-paying job! Over 7,000 dollars a month! Room and board included. No experience required! Start immediately!]

The group chat went silent for two seconds, then it exploded.

[Holy, 7,000 dollars?! For real?!]

Emily calmly replied: [I found it in a job-recruitment group. The factory’s own HR posted it. It’s a legitimate factory, and that’s what they’re paying the summer workers.]

Someone immediately started doing the math.

[3,000 dollars vs 7,000 dollars. That’s a 4,000-dollar difference. Two months of work and that’s 8,000 dollars more.]

[Think about how much you could buy with 8,000 dollars.]

[Jasper’s offer of 3,000 dollars really is too low. That’s basically ripping us off.]

I stared at the messages. My fingers hovered uselessly over the keyboard, not knowing what I should type.

Then, an even more cutting message appeared. It was from Kevin Warren, someone I had always considered a pretty good friend.

[Jasper, how much of a kickback is your uncle giving you? You’re sending your classmates to his factory. You must be making a nice profit, huh?]

His words were like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head.

Then, Gideon Cole chimed in: [Exactly. We trusted you, and you were just using us to make money. I even went around telling you’re a reliable person. Turns out you’ve been taking kickbacks this whole time?]

One accusation came after another, all of them were questioning me.

I stared at my phone. My hands trembled slightly.

[My uncle’s factory is completely legitimate. You guys can look it up online. I'm not taking a single cent from anyone.]

Emily replied: [That 7,000-dollar job is legitimate too. Besides, he’s your uncle. How are we supposed to know whether you’re getting kickbacks or not?]

I was furious.

[First of all, I only mentioned the job. Nobody was forced to sign up. Second, go wherever you want. There’s no need to throw accusations at me.]

I found them jobs without making a single cent off it. I had even put myself in my uncle’s debt by asking him for a favor. Yet somehow, I became the greedy scammer who took kickbacks.

Ten minutes later, Emily sent another message: [I've already contacted the HR manager over there. They said anyone above 18 can start. Seven thousand dollars a month guaranteed, with overtime paid separately.

[And they don’t charge any fees. Someone will even pick us up and send us there.

[If our whole class goes together, they can even arrange an entire dorm building just for us.]

The group chat instantly turned into an Emily fan club.

[Emily’s the GOAT!]

[We’re going with you, Emily!]

[Seven thousand dollars a month?! I’ve never made that much money in my life!]

Even our class president, Asher Hart, stepped in: [Since there’s a better option now, let’s just go with Emily. We’ll pass on Jasper’s offer.]

After that, one of my classmates texted me privately: [Jasper, uh… I’m not going to your uncle's factory anymore. I think I’m going with the higher-paying job. I’m sorry, Jasper. I’m gonna withdraw.]

My phone buzzed all night, one withdrawal message after another. They all said the same thing.

[It’s not that we don’t trust you. The other job just pays more.]

That night, I opened the name list I had saved in my notes and started deleting the names one by one. There used to be more than 20 names. I kept deleting until there was not a single one left.