A weak voice answered from deeper inside the house.
They found Sarah Thompson lying on a pile of old blankets in the corner of what had once been the living room. When she saw Rocco standing in the doorway, the fear on her face was immediate and complete.
She begged him not to hurt them. She told him there was nothing left to take.
Rocco knelt down and kept his hands where she could see them.
He told her he was not there to hurt anyone. He told her her daughter had explained what happened and that he needed to understand who had done this.
The Name That Changed Everything
Sarah told him the story haltingly, her voice worn down to almost nothing.
Her husband Marcus had passed away months earlier. After his passing, a man with a scar across his cheek had arrived at the door claiming Marcus had borrowed money from Rocco’s organization before he died. Fifteen thousand dollars plus interest. He said the debt had transferred to her.
Sarah said Marcus had worked three jobs his entire adult life specifically to avoid borrowing from anyone. He had never signed anything.
When she tried to explain this, the men began removing everything from the house. They said they would return every week until the debt was paid. They warned her that if she contacted anyone, they would come back for something more valuable than furniture.
She had understood exactly what the threat meant.
Rocco asked for the name of the man with the scar.
She told him.
Vincent Caruso.
