Chapter 22: The Envelope
Chapter 22: The Envelope
David walked onto the factory floor, his jaw set. He had missed three weeks of shifts. He fully expected the foreman to hand him a termination slip and escort him off the property.
Instead, the deafening roar of grinding machinery abruptly ground to a halt. The silence was absolute and terrifying.
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Thirty rough, grease-stained men walked toward him. No one said a word. The foreman, a towering man with calloused hands, stepped forward and shoved a thick, heavily taped envelope into David's chest. It was bulging with crumpled bills—overtime pay, savings, drinking money, all surrendered without a second thought.
"For the little girl," the foreman gruffed, turning away to wipe a streak of black grease from his eye. In a world that felt fundamentally evil, the quiet, uncompromising solidarity of broken men felt like a saving grace.
