His authoritative voice cut through the ambient noise: “Hurry up, Denise. You can’t make the customers wait.”

The customers’ glances met, whispering words of sympathy, shocked by Ross’s harshness. Denise, she heard everything — the taunts, the comments — but nothing stopped her. The bills didn’t wait, and neither did her rent.

Sitting discreetly at a table in the corner, Harold, the undercover owner, began to notice troubling details. He saw Denise stumble slightly, spill a glass of water, and in the instant that followed, he noted Ross’s strange behavior, which seemed more focused on increasing the pressure than on helping her.