Emilio's voice was ice. "Angelo spoiled these workers. I'll train it out of them."
It didn't take long. Within weeks, even more workers walked off the job.
Emilio, furious, dragged several of them before the Castellano family's enforcer captain.
He charged them with willful negligence, inciting unrest, and disrupting the family's business.
But even with men thrown in lockup, the rest still refused to lift a finger.
My side of things was a different story entirely.
Business grew by the day, profits climbing steadily, and I paid the highest wages in all of Kingsport.
The people working for me were terrified of not doing enough.
Emilio seemed to think he'd found the root of the problem.
I was directing my crew to hang the sign above our new front on Mulberry Street when Emilio's men shoved their way forward.
One of them swung and knocked the signboard clean off its hooks.
It hit the ground and split in two.
The leader glanced at the gold bracelet on my temp worker's wrist and sneered:
"So it's true. You're the one corrupting people's hearts with money."
I stared at the shattered signboard. My voice was flat:
"What exactly do you think you're doing?"