Chapter 2
I stared at him from the sidewalk.
My expensive coat pressed against wet concrete.
My phone buzzed in my hand like an insect trapped in glass.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
The boy picked up the bills and held them out to me.
His hand was small.
Dirty.
Steady.
“The question isn’t who I am,” he said. “The question is who you forgot.”
The words struck harder than Melissa’s news.
Who you forgot.
I wanted to stand, but my legs would not trust me.
Melissa knelt beside me.
“Sir, we need to go.”
The boy placed the money on my knee.
Then he picked up his sign.
“Wait,” I said.
He turned.
“What do you know about my factory?”
His eyes darkened.
“My mother tried to tell you.”
My heart lurched.
“Your mother?”
But he was already walking away.
Small body swallowed by the morning crowd.
I shouted, “Stop him!”
My driver moved.
The boy slipped between commuters and vanished into the subway entrance before anyone reached him.
Melissa helped me up.
“Mr. Coleman, the board is calling.”
I looked at the subway stairs.
Then at my burning phone.
For the first time in years, I did not know which emergency mattered more.
At the office, every screen showed the fire.
Factory Number One.
My first factory.
My pride.
Smoke poured into the gray sky.
Workers stood wrapped in blankets.
Sirens flashed red.
A reporter said, “Sources claim employees warned management for months about electrical hazards.”
I turned to Melissa.
“Is that true?”
She looked away.
“Sir…”
“Is it true?”
Her voice dropped.
“There were letters.”
My blood went cold.
“From whom?”
She hesitated.
May you like
Then she said a name I had not allowed inside my office for ten years.
“Anna.”
