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Alto scowls but does as he is told, grabbing the two other men and heading out.
Just before they exit, he turns, looks at me, and then at Felix. He asks, “What about her?”
“She works for me now,” says Felix coldly.
“Boss. I ain’t done her background check.”
I feel the panic rise in my heart. What if they need to do a background check?
What if they discover who I really am and find my ID fake, which it is.
“Get out,” says Felix, ending this conversation. I sigh with relief.
Once they are gone, Felix turns to me with an apologetic look.
“I am so sorry about that,” he says softly, putting a hand on my shoulder gently.
“It’s okay,” I say. Felix is scanning my face closely, and I know why.
He wants to see if the violence has made me nervous.
It hasn’t, and why would it?
I grew up in the Battaglia home, surrounded by this sort of stuff all the time.
But I pretend it’s shaken me up because I risk losing more than I gain if I don't.
“Sir,” I say, moving to the man. “Are you alright? What’s your name?” I ask kindly.
The man looks up at me with a bruised and swollen face, his eyes filled with pain and fear.
“My name is Enrique, Miss.”
“Enrique, can you tell me what happened?” I ask gently.
“I couldn’t pay back the money,” he says, his voice shaking.
“It wasn’t my fault, Miss. I had to care for my family, and my boss wouldn’t give me my paycheck on time.”
“I understand, Enrique,” I say, patting his hand. “But you know you can’t ignore the Carlisi family’s debts. They won’t let you get away with it.”
“I know, Miss,” he says, his voice breaking. “But I don’t have the money right now. I just started a new job and need some time to get back on my feet.”
I look at Felix, who is watching me with interest. He nods as if giving me permission to handle the situation.
“Enrique, how much do you owe the Carlisi family?” I ask, trying to sound calm and collected.
“Twenty thousand dollars,” he says, looking down at his feet.
Okay, that’s a lot of money. A couple of hundred bucks, and I could have handled this. Now, it’s all on Felix.
I sit back, worried, afraid, wondering what Felix will do to him.
Felix walks over to Enrique.
“Why did you borrow the money?” he asks.
“My wife has cancer. I got two kids. I needed to take care of her, and my boss ain’t let me take a day off with pay. I ... I was broke. Between the chemo and every-” Here, he breaks off into soft tears, choking back the sobs he
