Chapter 5 - The Woman Behind the Collections
The first other worker arrived on a rainy Thursday.
Her name was Rosa.
She stood outside Mercer Auto holding a clear plastic folder beneath her jacket.
“Are you Khloe Hayes?”
Khloe glanced toward Bea.
Bea stopped counting inventory.
“Yes.”
Rosa’s eyes moved around the shop.
“I got your name from the legal-aid office. They said you might understand.”
Inside the folder were pay records from a commercial laundry.
Hours worked.
Hours missing.
Deductions routed toward an Apex account.
Khloe felt something old and cold stir beneath her ribs.
“How many people?”
Rosa swallowed.
“At my place? Seven.”
By the following week, Mara was coordinating with attorneys who represented workers at two laundries, a warehouse, and another car wash.
Khloe did not interview them or collect documents herself.
She gave people the number she wished somebody had given her months earlier.
That was enough.
It was also more than she had imagined she could do.
At night, she thought about Roman’s words.
I didn’t ask enough questions.
Now the questions were arriving without waiting for his permission.
The investigation moved beyond Khloe’s forged note.
Authorities and outside reviewers began examining suspected fraud, wage theft, unlawful threats, and financial transactions involving several businesses.
Victor Salvo stepped away from his formal duties.
His attorneys described that as a temporary administrative decision.
Bea read the statement on her phone.
“Funny how nobody ever steps away from money until somebody finds the footprints.”
Khloe smiled without amusement.
That afternoon, Lena asked to meet through Mara.
They gathered at the attorney’s office.
Lena placed a photograph on the table.
A grainy security image showed a man entering Oasis Auto Spa two hours before the brake line was damaged.
“Eddie Voss,” Khloe said.
“You’ve seen him?”
“Danny brought him to our apartment once.”
“What happened?”
“He looked around like he was pricing the furniture.”
Lena nodded.
“Tell the detective exactly that.”
Khloe looked at the photograph again.
“Does he work for Victor?”
“That connection is being investigated.”
“You think he does.”
“I think several records point that way. I don’t want to turn that into a fact before the evidence does.”
Khloe studied her.
“Were you there four months ago?”
Lena’s expression changed.
“When your letters arrived? No. I joined Roman’s security team seven weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“His previous head of security retired suddenly.”
“Suddenly.”
“Yes.”
The room became still.
Mara made a note.
That evening, Roman called Khloe for the first time.
He had obtained her agreement through Mara before using the number.
She stood at the stove, stirring pasta.
“Lena says you know who Voss is.”
“I gave the detective my statement.”
“Good.”
“Is that why you called?”
“No.”
He hesitated.
Khloe could hear traffic behind him.
“There may be press attention soon. I wanted you to hear that before somebody appeared outside your job.”
Her grip tightened around the spoon.
“Are you warning me or asking me to stay quiet?”
“Warning you. You owe me no silence.”
She turned off the burner.
“What happens if the investigation finds you should have known?”
“Then my lawyers advise me, the authorities do their work, and I deal with it.”
“You make that sound easy.”
“It isn’t.”
For a moment, she could hear him breathing.
Then he said, “Khloe, I’m sorry.”
He had said it before.
This time, nothing followed.
No account of what he had changed.
No explanation of why he had failed.
Just the apology.
She did not answer it.
Instead, she said, “I bought groceries today.”
“All right.”
“With my pay. All of it.”
His silence changed.
“I’m glad.”
“I bought peaches. They weren’t on sale.”
“That sounds like a good purchase.”
“It was.”
After they hung up, Khloe ate at the little table beside her window.
Later, someone knocked on the door.
Her whole body went still.
She had not told Roman where she lived.
She had not told Danny either.
The knock came again.
“Khloe? Building manager.”
She checked before opening.
He held an envelope.
“Somebody left this downstairs.”
No stamp.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph of Mercer Auto’s yellow door.
On the back, somebody had written:
Your brother remembered what family means. You should too.
Khloe did not touch anything else.
She called the police.
Then Mara.
Then Bea, because she would not make her employer discover a threat only after it became danger.
Bea listened.
“Stay where you are,” she said.
“I don’t want to bring this to your shop.”
“Honey, the people doing this brought it. You just told me.”
For the first time in months, Khloe believed the difference.
Across the city, Roman received the news through Lena.
He listened without speaking.
May you like
Then he looked at the portrait of his uncle hanging outside the boardroom.
By morning, it was gone.
