“Get out of here, you beggar!” — she ᴛʜʀᴇᴡ soapy water on the little homeless boy. She had no idea that five minutes later, she would lose everything.

“But today, Miguelito witnessed something terrible in his home. Something so traumatic that he ran away, desperate for help. And you…”
He paused.
“You were the first person he found.”

My throat went completely dry.

“W-what… what did he see?” I whispered.

Vásquez smiled—but there was nothing kind about it.

“His stepmother dead. Murdered. And Don Roberto standing there with blood all over his hands.”

The world collapsed around me.

I had just rejected the only witness to a murder.
A child who was begging for safety.

“Miguelito saw everything from the staircase,” Vásquez continued. “He heard the screams, saw the fight, and witnessed the exact moment Don Roberto lost control.”

The other men stepped closer to my door. Now I could see they were holding something, though the shadows hid the details.

“The problem, Mrs. Morales,” Vásquez said, “is that you were very cruel to the only witness who could destroy my boss.”

He pulled an envelope from his jacket.

“Don Roberto is willing to be… generous. Fifty thousand dollars for your silence. And for assuring that if anyone asks, you never saw Miguelito today.”

The envelope dropped at my feet.

“But if you choose not to cooperate…”
The other men stepped forward.