I’ve been working for my dad’s construction company since I was 15. Not by choice, but because I had to. “Earn your keep” was his favorite line. I paid actual rent as a teen. He married my mom when I was 10, and from that day on, it felt like I was more of a tenant than family. But I put my head down and worked hard, thinking one day it’d pay off.
But then David, his biological son, suddenly reappeared. He’d been gone for years, blaming Dad for his mom’s affair. Now, fresh out of college with a fancy construction management degree, he wanted in. But I never saw what was coming.
One day, my dad calls me into his office and says, “We need to let you go.” I was speechless. I’d been with the company for over a decade, building it from nothing. When I asked why, he just looked at me and said, “David’s got the degree, and we don’t have room for both of you. It’s time I help him get on his feet.”
I didn’t lose it. I just left, trusting that the universe would handle the rest. And, well, let’s just say karma doesn’t miss.
About six months later, I …
Life has a funny way of surprising you. I started working at my stepdad’s construction business at 15, doing everything from organizing files to cleaning. As I worked my way up to foreman, it wasn’t passion but my stepdad’s tough-love rule that kept me going. Then, my stepbrother David, who’d been absent for years, returned.
One day, I was called into the boss’s office, and just like that, I was let go to make room for David, who had a degree. It felt like a classic case of nepotism. I left, heartbroken but soon found a new job at a competing firm, where I thrived as a project manager.
Months later, rumors surfaced about my father’s company struggling. Then I discovered David was applying for jobs at my new company. Life had a strange twist. I interviewed him, and suddenly, the tables had turned. I was now the one with the power, and it felt like karma had come full circle.
