My father’s old office screams of memories, and it’s almost impossible for me to get comfortable. I took away all of his old stuff, boxed it up and put it away in the house, but I still feel like it’s lurking there.

I lean back in his chair. I can’t help but wonder how many times he sat in this exact spot. He spent so much of his time on Evans Energy that I feel like he left a little ghost of himself right here in this spot.

Over the last few years, my dad and I weren’t that close. We were practically best friends when I was younger, since he raised me alone, but after I left town and spent most of my time at boarding school we sort of just drifted. Now, though, I feel closer to him than I have in a long time, and that’s even more painful than I could have guessed.

There’s a knock at the door and I look up. “Come in,” I call out.

Ingram steps in. He closes the door behind him and smiles at me. “How are you settling in?” he asks me.

I shrug a little. “Just getting used to this.”

“Of course.” He walks over and sits in the chair in front of my desk. “The union had a meeting last night.”

I raise an eyebrow. I’m not sure how he knows that, but I decide not to ask him. Ingram always seemed like a nice man when I was younger, but now that I’m back, I’m hearing things about him, disturbing things. He’s apparently much tougher than I could have guessed. He’s been pushing the miners hard, and they seem to hate him.

And he’s trying to push me out. I can feel it, and I’m not really surprised. He probably resents me for walking right in here and taking the job he probably thinks he deserves. I know I need to be careful of him, but I also need him. Fact is, he knows this company better than I do, knows how to run it. I can’t do this without him.

“How did it go?” I ask him.

He shrugs. “The usual. Lots of complaining, nothing got done.”

I narrow my eyes. He has such a low opinion of his workers, it always surprises me. “How is their new leader settling in?”

“Samuel?” He raises his eyebrows. “In over his head, I’d say.”

“He seems competent. Cares about his workers.”

“Of course he does. It’s in his own interest to care about them.”

“What do you mean?” I ask him.

He smiles at me like a grandfather smiling at a toddler trying to walk for the first time. It’s patronizing and frustrating, but I keep it together.

“This is how the unions work,” he says. “The new boss comes in, starts to pillage the coffers, until eventually he retires a rich man. Meanwhile, nothing gets done, except they’re a huge pain in my butt.”

“That’s pretty pessimistic,” I say. “Unions were made to protect the workers.”

“They don’t need protections anymore,” he says, waving his hand in dismissal. “There are federal laws protecting them. No, unions are there to gouge the companies for more pay, and to gouge the workers for their dues. The only real winners are those in charge, assuming they’re corrupt enough, which they always are.”

I hate the way he’s talking about Samuel and the other miners. He makes them sound like a bunch of greedy assholes, only in this for some extra money, when really they just want to make a living. None of them are rich, very far from it, and they work in horrible conditions.

“You’re too soft on them,” Ingram continues. “They’re going to take advantage of you in this negotiation.”

“I appreciate your concern,” I say.

“Trust me on this.” He stands up, still smiling, but now literally looking down on me. “They aren’t your friends. They only care about themselves, not about the company, and they’ll tear this place apart if you let them. You have to keep the union in line. Don’t be soft on Samuel, because he won’t be soft on you.”

I stare back at him. “I’ll take that under consideration.”

“Good. You need to trust me, Amelia. I have a lot of experience.”

He turns and leaves my office without another word. I watch him go, a stone sitting in my gut. He gives me such a bad feeling, but he’s right about one thing. He does have a lot of experience, and I do need him.

But is it really so black and white? I don’t know why it has to be us against them. I don’t know why we can’t have a contract that works for all of us, but maybe that’s too idealistic and naïve. I want to give them what they want, as long as the company can continue to exist and make a profit. We can all work together.

I get up from my desk and walk over to my father’s filing cabinet. I open the bottom drawer and pull out copies of the last contract before carrying it over to my desk. I start going through it, making underlines and comments in the margins.

I need this negotiation, I realize. It has to go well for me. If I mess this up, I’m going to be kicked out of this office so fast I won’t even see it coming. Ingram is just waiting for me to mess up, which means I probably can’t take his advice, at least not entirely. He doesn’t have my best interests at heart.

Whose interests do I have at heart? I don’t even know if I want this job, but there are so many people involved in this company, and they’re all trying to make a living. And then there’s Samuel, that cocky, handsome bastard. I keep thinking about him down in that mine, in that cramped little tunnel, digging through the wall with those huge machines.

I shake my head and get back to work. I need to concentrate. If I want this to go well, I’m going to need Samuel, even if I want him for more than just negotiating.