Her mind wandered. She imagined the headlines announcing the collapse of Feather Textile Corporation, and she found herself feeling grateful her dad wasn't around to see it. Her stomach sank again— if the company failed, Samuel would never get the chance to run it. She'd promised to take care of Samuel and Maria, but how could she keep that promise if the company collapsed? She had some money, but it wasn't enough to support them for more than a few years.

Of course, Sean had given her a limitless credit card, but she knew she couldn't rely on him. He was far too changeable and unpredictable. Besides, she didn't want to live off of his money for the rest of her life—she couldn't trust him to support her. A sudden idea hit her, and she straightened up at her desk.

​​

That's it, she thought. Dad always said a good company was about reliability—in order to succeed, you have to trust the people working for you.

She thought of all the people that Lawson had fired after her dad died, about all the people he'd hired as favors or bribes. She picked up her phone and called Alan's secretary.

"How do I get access to the Human Resources files?" she asked.

Catherine stared at the giant cart piled with files.

"This is it?" she asked the sweating secretary.

"Oh no," the secretary replied. "This is the first one. There are five more downstairs I need to bring up to you."

"Five?" she asked, feeling dizzy.

"That's right," the secretary replied. "You just want the active employee files, right? Because if you want information on all the terminated employees, it might be better for you to come downstairs. I'm not sure all the files will fit in your office."

"No, no, just the active employees," Catherine answered in a daze.

"Thank God," the secretary said.

With a sigh, Catherine sat in her creaky desk chair and reached for the first stack of files. She paged through a few files, quickly realizing that they were all organized the same. First came the employee's basic information: their CV, personal data, their yearly salaries, and other information noted when they were hired. Next came their annual performance reviews. After that, she found disciplinary information.

She opened file after file, quickly noticing a pattern. Most of the employees hired before her father's death had little or no information in the disciplinary section. They had years of experience and impressive CVs, and their performance reviews were generally positive.

But the employees hired after her father's death were different. Many had faced disciplinary action for missing work, misusing company resources, fights with other employees, sexual harassment—the lists went on and on. She also noticed that the employees hired after her father's death had different types of qualifications. Their GPAs were lower, and they attended less prestigious schools—many had little to no relevant experience. A few files were missing CVs and other qualifying information completely.

She returned the files to the cart and began looking for Lawson's file. She opened it and gasped at what she saw: Lawson Stewart, General Manager, Sales Department. She shook her head. How could Lawson still be in sales? He'd almost destroyed the company—there was no way he could successfully manage the sales department. Ever since he'd taken over, the company had done nothing but lost sales.

"This has to change," she said aloud.

Her phone buzzed on her desk, and she glanced down at the screen. Alan asked her if she wanted to join him for lunch. She checked the time—it was already 12:30.

"Thanks, Alan," she replied. "But I think I'm going to take a working lunch today."

She grabbed another stack of files and began looking through them. Each time she found a person hired before her dad died, she closed the file. For every person hired after her father's death, she read the file carefully, taking note of their performance reviews and disciplinary actions.

The more she read, the less she could believe her uncle's stupidity. There were multiple employees who had stolen from the company, but they hadn't been fired. Others had been written up for watching movies at work or harassing their secretaries and coworkers. Each time she found a complaint about theft or sexual harassment, or wasting time on the job, she added the person's name to a list.

Then she began on the performance reviews. To her surprise, dozens of employees had nothing but negative reviews for their first two years. Suddenly, the reviews changed and became glowingly positive. A quick call to HR explained the change—after two years, Lawson had fired all of the managers who wrote negative reviews of his new employees. She quickly added those names to another list.

After hours of work, she'd only finished one of the five carts. Her empty stomach grumbled, but she didn't have time to eat. She slid the lists into a folder and walked all the way to Alan's Office.

"I missed you at lunch," he said. "I know you want to save the company, but you have to take breaks, too, okay?"

"I know," she said. "But I found something important, and I have an idea."

"Oh?' Alan asked, looking curious.

"Did you know that the company is wasting hundreds of thousands—maybe even millions—on bad employees?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Alan replied.

"I mean that there are people here who should have been fired years ago," she replied. "Some of them have broken company rules or stolen, and others are just bad at their jobs or lazy. But they've never been fired at all. In fact, a few years ago, they fired the managers who were reporting them to HR."

"It's true," Alan sighed. "There's a lot of deadweights here."

"Well, let's get rid of it," she said. "Let's fire them."

She handed Alan the two lists she'd made, "From what I can tell, everyone on these lists needs to go. And I still have a lot of personnel files to review tomorrow."

Alan sighed, "You can't just fire all these people, Cathy."

"Why not?" she asked. "They should have been let go years ago."

"Only HR or their managers can do that," he answered. "You're an intern—and not only that, it's your first day."

"Well then, if I can't do it, I'll call HR," she said. "And if they give me problems, I'll speak to them as a shareholder. It may be my first day, but I don't have time to waste—we just have a few months to meet Sean's demands."