Chapter 2

"Since you've found everyone something better, of course I'll respect the choice. I hope graduation goes smoothly for all of you."

I tilted my head. "If the wording bothers you, I'll change it. Shall I wish you all brilliant careers instead?"

"You—"

Brooke clearly hadn't expected me to fold. For once she couldn't get an accusation out fast enough.

The students glanced at one another, and the heat went out of the room.

"Brooke, did we read that wrong?"

"She never actually said we had to work at her family's plant."

"My dad says most places want a full three months before they'll certify anything. Morgan Components offered to sign off after two. That does sound like she was trying to help."

Brooke's face tightened. She stared at me, then pitched her voice louder.

"Don't let her play you. She's being reasonable so we'll drop our guard. The second we walk out that door she's calling our parents."

The room went still. Then the panic caught.

"Oh, God. If my mother finds out I haven't started an internship, I'm dead."

"I told my dad I already had a placement. He wired me three thousand for living expenses and I spent it on a trip. He'll kill me."

"My mom doesn't even know I'm short on credits. If she hears I skipped the internship, that's the end of my money."

Brooke knew exactly which fear to press. One sentence and they'd turned back on me.

"You're supposed to be an educator, and you're going to run to our parents like a kid telling on us?"

"You'll wreck the whole thing. We finally find a good job and you can't stand it."

"She's doing it on purpose. She wants us in her father's plant so she gets her cut."

Brooke's mouth curved.

"Ms. Morgan, getting between someone and their money is a serious thing to do. Drop the threats about our parents, or I promise you won't be teaching much longer."

I met her eyes without moving.

"Brooke, I do intend to talk to your families. You're adults, but you're still enrolled here, and I'm not signing off on a placement I can't verify."

I tapped the offer on her screen.

"Eighteen thousand a month for an intern, certification after thirty days, and an overseas retreat thrown in? There's nothing credible in that."

Brooke opened her mouth, but Diane snapped her lesson planner shut before a word got out.

"Eighteen thousand a month? For an internship? And they're flying you overseas?"

She pushed her glasses up and stood.

"Claire's right. That's wrong on its face."

She turned to the students.

"My nephew graduated last year and took one of these 'high-paying opportunities.'

"He got there and found out it was a recruitment pyramid. He never earned a cent, and he lost twenty thousand of his own money on top of it.

"You're twenty-two. You don't have the experience to spot a professional operation when it's dressed up nicely."

Howard Grant nodded from the next desk.

"No legitimate employer pays a new intern eighteen thousand a month and adds an international trip. The university has to check this company out, and your parents need to hear about it."

Brooke's face changed. She'd braced for a fight with me, not a room full of faculty trading stories about fake job offers.

A few of the more cautious students started looking at her differently.

"Brooke, maybe I should sit this one out. It's starting to scare me."

"Same. You keep saying the company's great, but none of us even knows what they actually do."