Chapter 4 - The Ultimatum
The room fell into an eerie, suffocating silence. A fly buzzed lazily against the warm windowpane. Trudy stood tall, convinced she had won. She had played this card twice before in her thirty years with the company—once when an arrogant supervisor tried to alter shift schedules, and once when an outside supplier disrespected her packing crew. Both times, management had folded. Gaines Peanut Company couldn't survive harvest season without Trudy Odum keeping the pack lines moving.
Boyd leaned back in his leather chair, interlocking his fingers. He looked at Trudy for a long, agonizing minute.
"Are you threatening a wildcat strike during the first week of harvest, Trudy?" he asked, his voice dangerously smooth.
Trudy hesitated, sensing the shift in the air, but her pride wouldn't let her back down. "I'm telling you how my people feel, Boyd. They love me. They loved Clay. They won't work alongside a murderer."
"You used that word twice now," Boyd said. "Murderer. That's a legal accusation."
"It's a moral one!" Trudy fired back.
Boyd turned his gaze to Roz. She looked exhausted, battered by months of collective community punishment, yet she hadn't shed a single tear in front of them. "Roz, did the police ever charge you with anything regarding Clay Odum's accident?"
"No, sir," Roz whispered.
"Did they name you a person of interest?"
"No, sir."
"Then as far as Gaines Peanut Company is concerned, Roz is an employee in good standing," Boyd stated plainly. He stood up, towering over the desk, his imposing frame commanding absolute authority. "Trudy, if your crew walks out tomorrow, I will consider it a voluntary resignation of every single person who fails to clock in. I will hire contract workers from Montgomery by noon, and I will shut down line four before I let personal vendettas dictate my payroll."
Trudy staggered back a half-step, her eyes widening in disbelief. "You would choose her over me? After I sat by your side when Lee died? After everything my family has given to your family?"
"I honor what you did for me, Trudy," Boyd said, his voice softening with genuine regret. "I will never forget it. But you don't own this company. And you don't get to starve an innocent woman out of this county because you're grieving your son. That's my final word. Go home. We start roasting at six tomorrow."
May you like
Trudy stared at him, her chest heaving. She shot a look of pure poison at Roz, grabbed her purse, and stormed out, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the glass panels.
Roz stood frozen, her legs trembling so violently she had to lean against the bookcase for support. "Mr. Gaines... you shouldn't have done that. You really shouldn't have."
