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.