Paid Double Wages to Be Betrayed

My younger sister, Amelia Reinhart, is in her freshman year in high school, and she has severe asthma. She can't handle the wind and rain, nor can she stand the smell of car leather. Our parents are working three shifts at the factory, so they don't have time to send her to school and pick her up when classes are over. So, I spend 40,000 dollars on a minibus with heating, and I also hire a driver, Gary Brown, to handle Amelia's school commutes. I feel bad for Amelia, so I double Gary's pay and tell him to take extra care of her. But one stormy day, as I drive past the school intersection, I see Amelia completely drenched, coughing as she wades through the mud with great effort… Chapter 1 Slamming the brakes, I flung open the car door and dashed into the torrential rain. "Amelia!" I shouted. My younger sister, Amelia Reinhart, was cold all over. Her clothes clung tightly to her thin and frail body, and her hair was clumping into wet strands. More alarmingly, the color was completely drained from her face. "Caleb…" When Amelia saw me, she had only managed to squeeze out a word before she exploded into a series of coughs. I didn't press her for details. Instead, I carried her back to the car. Then, I retrieved the albuterol inhaler from the glove box, removed the cap, and pressed it to her lips. Trembling, Amelia pressed down on the inhaler and took a deep breath. Ten whole minutes later, her breathing finally stabilized, and some color returned to her pale face. Taking a dry towel, I looked her in the eye as I dried her hair. "Why were you walking in the rain? What about the minibus?" Amelia instantly looked away, her eyes avoiding mine. Lowering her head, she tightly gripped the wet fabric of her clothes as she said in a tiny voice, "The… The minibus broke down. Gary said he's going to get it fixed, so he asked me to go on ahead and walk home on my own…" "It broke down?" I asked. I looked at her fingertips that had turned purple from the cold, then at her eyes that still refused to look in my direction. I knew my sister very well. She would never tell lies, but on the rare occasion she did, even her limbs would be trembling. Instead of exposing her lie, I took a spare blanket and wrapped her tightly with it. "Let's go home for now." After getting Amelia settled, I took out my phone and called the driver, Gary Brown. "Mr. Brown, it's raining quite heavily today. Did Amelia get home safe and sound?" I asked in a calm tone. On the other end of the phone, Gary was as slippery as an old fox. "No worries, Mr. Reinhart! I only left after seeing Amelia enter the house with my own eyes! It's raining cats and dogs today, so I made sure to drive slow and steady. The heat was cranked all the way up, so your sister was totally safe from the cold!" I glanced in the rearview mirror at Amelia, who was still shivering in the back. With my fingers tapping lightly on the steering wheel, I asked, "Is that so?" "Of course! You pay me an extra 1,000 dollars for the trouble every month, so how could I not treat Amelia like my own daughter?" Gary swore up and down without missing a beat. Instead of exposing him, I simply replied, "Good work." … It was late at night as I sat in the study, listening to Amelia's steady breathing coming from her bedroom next door. I turned on my laptop. Then, I logged into the management software for the custom-built minibus. I had paid for that minibus, and it featured real-time GPS tracking. To ensure Amelia's safety, the car even had four HD surveillance cameras installed. I checked the route history of the minibus today. Amelia would have left school at 5:20 pm, but GPS tracking showed that the minibus wasn't even at the designated parking area at the time. Instead, it was at the entrance of an after-school care center near the neighborhood. I pulled up the vehicle's surveillance footage around that time. As soon as the image loaded, I froze with my hand still on the mouse. A middle-aged woman with curls was sitting in the passenger seat. I recognized her. She was Ruby Lory, wife of Paul Hitchborn, the manager of Area 2 at the factory. She was the resident show-off around the neighborhood, and everyone called her Miss Ruby. In the surveillance footage, Ruby deftly took two packs of cigarettes from her purse and stuffed them in the pocket of Gary's jacket. "Thanks for the hard work today, Gary. What would we do without this minibus of yours in this awful weather?" Chapter 2 As Ruby spoke, she glanced in the back. "That sickly thing didn't bother you, did she?" Putting away the cigarettes with practiced ease, Gary smiled ingratiatingly. "Of course not! With direct orders from you, how can I possibly let her in? I just told her the minibus broke down and chased her out. With all that coughing she makes on board, the other parents will definitely complain, won't they?" Ruby nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Keep waiting at the intersection tomorrow. Don't mind her." Gary nodded repeatedly. "Got it. Hang on tight, Miss Ruby. I'm starting the car." I silently sat in front of my laptop. When I saw Gary's fawning expression and heard Ruby saying "that sickly thing", my nails slowly dug into my palm. True, I had forked out a huge sum of money to rent the minibus for Amelia, and I even hired a driver for 1,000 dollars, with another 1,000 dollars thrown in as a bonus. But I didn't mind the driver letting several kids in the neighborhood on board while he was doing the school runs for Amelia. I had allowed him to pocket the extra earnings. But I never thought that Gary and Ruby would work together and turn the minibus into a private shuttle for the neighborhood kids. I spent the whole night extracting the surveillance footage and driving routes of the minibus over the past two months. Ruby had claimed that her husband Paul cared so much about the workers in the factory that he pulled some strings to get special approval from the higher-ups, and that was how they got their hands on this premium shuttle. With that excuse, she was getting free money from families in the neighborhood. "We're charging 100 dollars per month for every child to cover fuel and maintenance. Slots are limited, so it's first come, first served." In the footage, I could clearly see Ruby accepting cash or transfers in the minibus. There were 16 seats in the minibus, and they were all occupied. If Ruby and Gary collected 100 dollars per child, and there were 16 seats available, they would be raking in 1,600 dollars per month. Ruby got the lion's share of the money while Gary was given the smaller portion. Gary was shamelessly getting his 2,000-dollar salary from me while skimming a kickback from Ruby as well. He was driving my vehicle while lining his pockets with shady money. … At 2:30 pm the next day, I switched to an unassuming black sedan with fake plates and parked it on the roadside opposite the school. It was still raining. The rain wasn't as heavy as the day before, but the wind was very cold. At 3:00 pm, the final dismissal bell rang. Students put up their umbrellas as they rushed out of the gates. I sat in the car, staring through the tinted window at the other side of the road. The familiar minibus was parked at the intersection. Gary was sitting in the driver's seat, head lowered as he scrolled on his phone. A while later, I spotted Amelia. She was keeping her head down as she walked toward the minibus. She was going very slowly, as if she were hesitating. When she arrived at the minibus, she was reaching up to open the door when the door opened from the inside. Ruby's son, a chubby 8th grader by the name of Larry Hitchborn, was blocking the entrance along with a few other boys. Larry said, "The cougher is here again! Hey, can't you just get lost already? You cough every day, and you're covered in gross germs. We don't want whatever plague you're having." The boys nearby joined in the laughter. "That's right. Now shoo, go away! I feel like I'm suffocating just standing next to you!" Amelia stood outside the door. The cold wind blew against her thin frame. She tightly clutched at her bag, her shoulders trembling ever so slightly. She didn't argue. Instead, she just raised her head and glanced at Gary in the driver's seat. Gary didn't even move an inch. It seemed as if he wasn't even aware of what was happening at the door. Chapter 3 The light went out in Amelia's eyes. She silently turned around, tucked her chin into her collar, and walked into the cold wind and rain, headed toward the bus stop around 600 feet away. I remained sitting in the car, the veins on the back of my hand bulging from anger. Just then, my phone rang. The words "Gary, Driver" flashed on the screen. Taking a deep breath, I answered the call. "Hello, Mr. Reinhart?" Gary sounded a little awkward, and there was a hint of deliberate misery in his voice. "Well… There's something I'd like to discuss with you. The thing is, Amelia has been coughing a lot lately. The minibus is quite cramped, and the parents of the other kids are upset about it. They say the minibus is filled with germs. "So, I've been thinking, for the sake of Amelia's health, and also to reassure the parents, maybe it's time to have the whole minibus deep cleaned, and maybe we can put in a medical-grade air filter, too." Gary paused for a moment, revealing his true intentions. "I asked the mechanic, and the whole operation costs about 700 dollars…" He was earning money with my vehicle, but he chased my sister away and didn't do a single thing when other kids insulted her. And now, he was even trying to claim the "disinfection fees" from me. Through the window, I watched the minibus slowly pulling away in the distance. I tried my best to remain calm as I said into the phone, "Send me your payment info. I'll transfer the money to you right now." Gary hadn't expected me to agree just like that. He was stunned for a second before responding in a higher pitch, "Don't worry, Mr. Reinhart! I'll get it done this afternoon. I swear I'll have the minibus squeaky clean!" Less than a minute after the call ended, Gary had already sent me his details. I navigated to the bank app on my phone and transferred the 700 dollars straight away. I also added "Vehicle disinfection" to the memo line. Then, I took a screenshot of the completed transfer and made sure it was saved on my phone. … On the weekend, Ruby set up a school shuttle parents' meeting in the neighborhood community center. My parents were working overtime at the factory that weekend, rushing for an urgent order. When I saw the notice Ruby posted in the neighborhood group chat, I didn't make a fuss. I changed into the plainest casual clothes I had in gray and put on black-rimmed glasses. Then, I headed to the community center. A dozen parents were already seated inside the meeting room. Ruby was sitting in the middle seat. When she saw me, she gave me a glance from head to toe. "You're Amelia's brother, yes? What about your parents?" "They're working overtime." I grabbed a random plastic chair in the corner and sat down. Ruby pursed her lips. "Fine. It doesn't change anything, anyway." Then, she addressed the whole room. "I've called a meeting here mainly to discuss the private shuttle." She pulled out a sheet of paper from her purse and slammed it on the desk. "Caleb, we're all working in the same factory. Logically speaking, since your parents are such honest people, we should be looking after your sister as neighbors. However, your sister's asthma is just way too severe!" Raising her voice, Ruby looked around. "She's coughing her lungs out in the minibus every single day. It's a cramped space, and the airflow is terrible inside. Who's going to take the blame if one of our kids catches some random bug from her?" The other parents nearby immediately backed her up. Someone said, "That's right! When my son came home yesterday, he told me that Amelia was coughing her guts out. How terrifying!" Another parent said, "Miss Ruby worked so hard to pull the strings and get the minibus for us. It's supposed to be a comfortable ride for the kids, not some ambulance for sick people." Yet another parent said, "We paid to get our kids in the minibus, but now everyone's on edge because of her. What's the meaning of this?" Satisfied with their responses, Ruby slid the sheet of paper to the center of the table. It was a petition letter covered from top to bottom in names and signatures. Ruby said, "See this, Caleb? All the parents of the kids in the minibus voted on this, and everyone agreed. Starting next Monday, Amelia will not be riding the shuttle. Tell her to take the bus or get your parents to do the school run." Chapter 4 With that, Ruby took out two 50-dollar bills from her purse and slid them across to me. "Here's a little something from us. Take this money and go get your sister some cough syrup so she can actually get over this thing." I quietly sat there, looking at the petition letter filled with signatures. They had no idea that the real owner of the so-called "minibus Miss Ruby pulled some strings to get" was sitting right in front of them. I didn't take the money, nor did I utter a word. Noticing that I wasn't saying anything, Ruby scoffed. "What's this? You still think you have room to argue?" She turned around and shouted out the door, "Gary! Gary Brown! Get in here!" Gary, who was smoking outside, hastily put out his cigarette and scrambled in. When he spotted me in the room, his gaze darted away for a second. He seemed to be feeling a little guilty. Pointing at me, Ruby said to Gary, "Gary, you're the driver. Your word holds the most weight here. Go ahead and tell everybody. Having Amelia on board poses a serious risk to road safety, doesn't it?" Gary glanced at me. He knew I was the one paying his salary, but he also knew very well that Ruby was the one collecting his "fuel kickback" from the parents in the room. To protect his job and keep cashing in on both sides, he swallowed hard and gritted his teeth. "That's… That's right." Gary leaned in and tried to make his voice low and sincere. "Mr. Reinhart, I don't want to do this to Amelia, but her coughs are getting out of hand. Her coughing is really terrifying, and it always creeps me out when I drive. I'll get distracted, see? There are a dozen kids in the minibus, so safety is my number one priority. If I get distracted and get into an accident, I can't afford to take the blame for that." As soon as Gary finished speaking, the other parents immediately backed him up. "See? Even the driver says so! Amelia must be taken off the minibus! We can't let her on board ever again!" Ruby leaned back in her chair and looked at me in glee. The crowd was getting riled up. I stood up. Then, as everyone watched, I made my way to the table. I reached out and picked up the petition letter. Without any hesitation, I tore it to shreds right in front of the parents. Everyone was stunned. Ruby's expression shifted. "You brat! How dare you do that to our petition letter? Are you out of your mind?" I looked at her coldly. "You're Paul Hitchborn's wife, right? Playing the generous host with someone else's property while pocketing 100 dollars per child in illicit cash from the parents in the group chat… Do you think you can rule the neighborhood with an iron fist just because your husband is a manager?" Ruby was worked up. "What… That's nonsense! I personally asked the factory director for the minibus—" Just then, my phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket. The urgent ringtone cut Ruby off. When I took out my phone, the words "Pineridge Hospital ER" were flashing across the screen. I answered the call only to hear a voice asking hurriedly, "Is this the family of Amelia Reinhart?" My heart suddenly sank. "I'm her older brother." The voice continued, "Your sister had a severe asthma flare-up and is currently unresponsive. She was rushed here by emergency medical services. Her oxygen levels are critically low, and she's been admitted to the ICU for emergency intervention. Someone needs to come sign the paperwork with ID and payment immediately!"