Chapter 3

But now, that charm flitting in the wind seemed to slap me in the face.

I ripped the good luck charm off the plant and lit it on fire before tossing it into the drain.

"Mr. Leeds, when are you going to pay us the 300 dollars in compensation?"

A familiar voice rang out from behind me.

I turned and saw Yves, flanked by a group of workers, walking toward me like he was the king of the world.

Steve shouted, "Yeah! How much money have you greedily made off of us over the years? Now, you can't even compensate us? What a dirty, rotten businessman you are!"

I looked at Steve, and a wave of mixed emotions flooded me.

"How dare you say I'm greedy! What about you? Remember when I paid 20 thousand dollars for your son's medical bills? Why didn't you call me greedy back then?"

Steve, getting even more worked up at the mention of his son, retorted, "My son was completely fine for 16 years! He ate at your restaurant for six months and got sick! It's your food that made him sick! Why did you pay for the medical bills if you weren't guilty? You were just feeling bad about it!"

I stared at him in shock, full of disbelief at the depths of his shamelessness.

"You!"

I felt my heart racing with anger as I clutched my chest while gasping for air.

But Steve, thinking that he had caught me in a lie, grinned even wider.

The other workers chimed in, "People care about health these days. We should be eating lighter, healthier food, yet you keep serving us dishes high in fat and sodium, like meatloaf and fried chicken. How can you say that you're not trying to mess with us?"

"If it weren't for Yves telling us, we wouldn't have realized you're making us buy extra drinks just to get more profit!"

"You're ruining our health for profit! What a disgrace!"

"The reason I put in extra oil and salt is that you work long hours on heavy physical labor, and more salt and oil give you more energy," I weakly tried to explain.

But they were now emotionally charged, so it just sounded like I was trying to defend myself after being caught.

"You even gave my daughter spoiled seafood that gave her a terrible stomachache!" Tanya screamed at me.

Carrie joined in angrily, "If it weren't for that stomachache, I wouldn't have missed school for days and failed my exams! You ruined my life!"

I yelled back, "That seafood was freshly caught by my friend and sent to me for my own consumption! I was cooking it for myself, but your daughter took it without asking!"

Tanya glared at me and sneered, "We don't care for your disgusting seafood! What's important is that you sold us unhygienic food! Pay up!"

Yves seized the moment and said, "Mr. Leeds, Ms. Hertz is right! I've seen you buying leftover rotten vegetables at the market. You know, the ones the farmers are going to throw away at the end of the day. Are our vegetables…"

He looked horrified as he said this, and the workers grew even angrier.

"Stop spreading rumors! Those were for the chickens and ducks I raise at home!"

When Tanya heard this, her eyes practically shot daggers at me. "You're a real scam artist! You have chicken and ducks at home, yet you're charging us ten dollars for a meal? Do you have no conscience for exploiting workers like us?"

With that, she threw rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables all over me in a fit of rage.