Hundreds of unread messages hit her all at once.
By the time she registered Mr. Greyson's messages and the photos of the devastation, her blood ran cold.
Almost eighty thousand dollars in losses? Dereliction of duty? Jail?!
Hope dropped onto the sand, her phone nearly slipping from her grip into the surf.
She could work until her next lifetime and never pay that back.
She needed someone else to take the fall.
She dialed Mr. Greyson.
The second the call connected, before his cursing could even reach her, she erupted into a shrill, pitiful wail.
"Mr. Greyson! It wasn't me! It really wasn't my fault! Please, you have to look into this properly!"
"You weren't at your post and you're telling ME you're innocent?! Where the hell are you!"
Mr. Greyson roared from the other end.
"Mr. Greyson, I handed everything over to Hailey Chavez yesterday afternoon! We swapped shifts. Hailey was supposed to be there today!"
Hope's voice pitched higher as the lie flew out of her mouth. "I have proof! I'll send it right now!"
She hung up and, fast as her fingers could move, sent the photo she'd staged yesterday afternoon while I was away into the group chat.