The men burst into laughter. Mark slapped the table. Daniel pulled out his phone to record. Steven joked under his breath. Even the atmosphere seemed to join in their mockery.
Maria stepped forward, her voice shaking. “Mr. Cole… please, we’ll leave. Lily won’t touch anything. I promise—”
“Did I ask you to speak?” Ethan snapped, cutting her off instantly.
The laughter faded into silence. Maria shrank back, tears filling her eyes. Lily glanced at her mother, something shifting in her expression—pain, yes, but also something older, something steady and unbreakable.
Ethan leaned forward slightly. “Come here.”
Lily hesitated, then stepped closer after her mother gave a small, helpless nod.
“Can you read?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Count to a hundred?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then you understand what a million dollars is, right?”
She paused. “It’s more money than we’ll ever see.”
The men laughed again. Ethan clapped slowly. “Exactly. More than you, your mother, or anyone in your family will ever have. That’s what separates people like me… from people like you.”
He glanced at Maria. “Tell her how much you earn cleaning my bathrooms.”
Maria couldn’t speak.