The plush furnishings and the low murmur of conversation between the other men seemed worlds apart from the tension I felt. As I sat across from Red and his cronies, a sickening realization dawned on me: their machinations were behind Lily’s recent struggles. It was their malicious interference that had driven her into a point of desperation, making her work extra hard to keep a job that had been sabotaged unknowingly to her.

Red leaned back in his chair, swirling his glass of whiskey with a casual nonchalance. His gaze was fixed on me, an irritating smirk playing on his lips. The lack of remorse expressed on their faces for...