Chapter 2

The moment Beth saw me, her fragile act vanished. There was a challenge in her eyes I'd never seen before.

She stood at the front, looked me in the eye, and said, "Because you broke the rules, they're taking back the casino you converted. Now we have nowhere to live.

"You think you can just leave it at that?

"Where are all of us supposed to live? Aren't you responsible?"

As soon as Beth finished, the crowd started shouting again.

Someone said, "Exactly. If you hadn't put us in that casino, we wouldn't be homeless now.

"Now we don't have anywhere to live. You have to take responsibility!

"We had to check the water and electricity ourselves, and the walls were so thin I couldn't sleep at night. I put up with it because we'd already moved in. And now we don't even have that."

"Exactly. We were already worn out from working for the family all day, and then she made us check the water and electricity when we got back."

Greedy leeches. They have no idea losing the casino is only the beginning.

The casino was huge. When I converted it, I was still waiting for some of my investment money to come back, so I was short on cash.

I could only afford a basic conversion, and the water and electricity acted up now and then.

I'd planned to redo the wiring and plumbing as soon as the money came in.

I was busy with work and couldn't always send someone to help, so I left a set of tools at the casino.

I asked the recruits to check the utilities themselves each night.

Two more weeks, and it all would have been fixed.

Another recruit spoke up. "And it's not just the water and electricity. Our rooms don't have air conditioning. It's so hot we can't sleep.

"We're exhausted all day, we can't sleep at night, and she still made us go haul her deliveries."

I clenched my fists until my knuckles went white. My breathing turned ragged.

Those deliveries were fans I'd bought with the last of my money.

When the fans arrived at the docks, I was busy with casino business. I asked the off-duty recruits to bring them back so everyone could use them that night.

I never expected them to call that doing my chores.

One by one, they accused me. The longer they talked, the angrier they got, dredging up more and more complaints.

In their eyes, every kindness I'd shown them had turned into a con.

Frank glanced at me. "Did you invite them to move in, or did they force their way in?"

"I invited them."

It was true. They'd come begging and complaining, but none of them had asked outright to live there.

They'd led me to make the offer myself.

Frank rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"Let me ask the underboss how he wants to handle this."

He turned away and called Victor.

I stayed where I was and set the manila envelope containing my resignation on the table. Someone from the affairs office came over.

"This is serious. Using the family's casino without permission breaks the rules, and they're accusing you of forcing new recruits to work for you. The underboss may add to your punishment. Brace yourself."

I nodded without a word.

Before long, Frank hung up and came toward me, his expression dark. Every eye in the room was on him.

"I just spoke to the underboss," he said. "Will you accept another fine on top of the original punishment?"

"I accept." I didn't ask how much, and I didn't say anything else.

I just wanted this over with.

As soon as I'd said it, the crew texted me. They'd restored the casino and piled everything from the rooms in the main hall for the recruits to collect.

"The casino's been restored. I'll pay the fine right away. Please give this to the underboss and put it through the usual channels."

I handed the manila envelope to Frank.

The room erupted. Beth stepped forward, snatched the envelope, and threw it aside. "Who do you think you are?!