Hearing this, the proprietress ran over even faster than Morgan.
“Where’s the damage?
Let me see!”
Luke was a local hoodlum.
She didn’t want to get on his bad side over a few bucks.
“Look!” Luke pointed to a scrape on the car door.
“The paint’s chipped!”
Sure enough, on the black car door, there was a scratch about the size of a fingernail!
Morgan just gave it a cool glance, his voice flat.
“It was already there.
I didn’t do it.”
“If it wasn’t you, then who was it?
It was perfectly fine when I got here!
It’s only been a few minutes, and you’ve already done this!” Luke roared.
The proprietress took a closer look, forcing a smile.
“Mr.
Larkin, we only use towels to wipe the cars.
We couldn’t have made a scratch like that.”
Luke snorted.
“Of course a towel couldn’t do it.
But what if it *wasn’t* a towel?”
He pointed at Morgan.
“He did it on purpose!
He took his anger out on my car while I wasn’t here!”
The proprietress was completely bewildered.
“What are you talking about?
Carter…
although he’s not as sharp as most people, he’s very careful and responsible.
He’s never made a single mistake, and all our customers have had nothing but good things to say about him.”
Luke laid it all out.
“He’s an idiot!
He went nuts and hit me last time, and I let him off with just a few choice words!
I can’t believe he’d deliberately damage my car this time!
Make him pay for it!
If not, fire him!”
‘So they have a history,’ the proprietress realized.
There were other customers in the shop, and she didn’t want to make a scene.
“Mr.
Larkin, you know Carter’s situation.
Life isn’t easy for him.
How about this?
We’ll touch up the paint for you and throw in a full complimentary detailing service.”
“No way!
It’s not about the money.
Don’t make it sound like I’m trying to shake you down!” Luke was completely intractable.
The proprietress sighed.
“Then please, come back inside and wait.
I’ll give his wife a call.”
As she stepped aside to call Maya, Luke continued to circle the car, inspecting it.
“Let’s see if there’s any other damage.”
The proprietress had just hung up when she heard Luke shout from inside the car, “Where’s my watch?!
I swear I left it right here!”
The proprietress hurried over.
“What watch?!”
Luke started rummaging through the car’s compartments.
“A Rolex!
Worth over a hundred grand!
Now it’s gone!” His furious gaze shot toward Morgan.
Morgan’s face flushed red with anger.
“I didn’t take it!”
Luke’s eyes narrowed.
“I never said you took it, but you’re already panicking.
An idiot’s an idiot.
Gave yourself away that easily!”
A hundred-thousand-dollar watch…
forget compensation, if it was really stolen, that’s a crime.
The proprietress was thoroughly panicked now.
She turned to Morgan, her expression cold.
“Did you take it?
If you did, give it back to Mr.
Larkin right now!”
Morgan slammed the towel in his hand to the ground, the corners of his eyes turning red.
“I didn’t take it!
Stealing is wrong!”
“You know it’s wrong, and you still did it?!” Luke shot him a look of contempt.
Falsely accused, Morgan’s chest began to heave.
He didn’t know how to prove his innocence and could only repeat agitatedly, “I didn’t take it!
I didn’t steal it!”
Before he started this job, Maya had carefully taught him how to treat customers politely and work diligently.
She had told him he was never, ever to touch anything inside a customer’s car—not even money!
No matter how poor they were, they would never take what wasn’t theirs!
‘He had etched every one of her words into his memory.
How could he possibly touch someone else’s watch?’
Luke took out his phone.
“Let’s call the cops.
Let them handle it.”
Calling the police would blow the whole thing up.
Regardless of the outcome, it would hurt the shop’s reputation.
The proprietress quickly pressed his hand down, forcing another smile.
“Mr.
Larkin, Maya is on her way.
Carter listens to her more than anyone.
Let’s just have her ask him.
We’re all neighbors here, do me a favor.
If it’s a misunderstanding, we can clear it up.
There’s no need to make a big scene, right?”
Luke reluctantly put his phone away.
“I’m only doing this for you.
Otherwise, I’d have this kid sent to jail right now!”
The proprietress nodded again and again.
“Yes, yes, of course.
I knew you were a magnanimous and reasonable man.
Please, have a seat inside.”
“What’s there to sit for?
Search him!
See if he still has it on him.
If he has time to hide it somewhere else, who am I supposed to go after?
We’re talking over a hundred grand!
I might have money, but I can’t just throw it away like that!”
The proprietress had no choice but to turn to Morgan.
“Carter, did you take it or not?
If you did, just take it out now.
I won’t hold it against you.”
“No!” Morgan said, his neck stiff with defiance.
Luke shot a look at two male employees standing nearby.
“Search him and we’ll find out.”
A heavy-set man and a skinny one stepped forward to search Morgan.
His face darkened.
Remembering what Maya had taught him last night, he yelled at the two men, “Screw you!
You can’t search me!”
“You—” The proprietress was so furious she was speechless.
Luke sneered.
“Well, well, he even knows how to curse.
Maybe you’re just pretending to be an idiot so you can steal from customers, huh?
Search him!”
Just as Maya rushed onto the scene, she saw Morgan tangled in a brawl with the two men.
“Morgan!
Morgan!
Stop it!” Maya’s heart leaped into her throat.
She scrambled over to pull him away.
She knew all too well how vicious Morgan could be when he lost control.
Those two men were probably no match for him.
The moment he heard her voice, Morgan guiltily dropped his hands, taking several solid punches from the two men as a result.
When he saw Maya, his eyes reddened.
He looked both wronged and guilty.
“Maya, it wasn’t me, I didn’t…”
Maya glanced at the two bruised men, then shot Morgan a sharp look before pulling him behind her.
She turned to the proprietress with an apologetic smile.
“What happened here?”
The proprietress sighed.
“Oh, if it hadn’t been for Hailey vouching for him, I never would have hired Carter.
Just look at all the trouble he’s caused now.”
Luke snorted from the sidelines.
“Your idiot husband didn’t just scratch my car, he also stole my Rolex.
You figure out how to fix this.”
Maya had been around the block a few times.
She knew better than anyone why Luke was giving Morgan a hard time.
With so many people gathered around and Morgan so agitated, she wanted to de-escalate things as quickly as possible.
“Let me talk to Morgan first,” she said.
She pulled Morgan aside, her voice low and sharp.
“Morgan, tell me.
Do you hate that man?
Did you damage his car on purpose?”
He shook his head, looking aggrieved.
“I didn’t!”
Maya cupped his face, her tone softening.
“Okay, I believe you.
Now, let me ask you something else.
Did you take his things?
You have to tell me the truth.
If you’re honest, I won’t be mad.
But if you lie to me, I’ll leave you.”
Even with her threat, Morgan’s tone was just as resolute.
“I didn’t!”
Only then did Maya let out a sigh of relief.
‘She knew how protective Morgan was of her.
On the way over, she had even considered that he might have actually damaged the car to get back at Luke.’
‘But now, looking into his eyes, she knew she’d been wrong to doubt him.’
She took his hand to reassure him.
“Why were you fighting just now?
I told you, you can’t get into fights when you’re out.”
Morgan answered honestly, “They said I had the watch on me and wanted to search me.
I wouldn’t let them, so I cursed at them… and then we started fighting.”
Now that she understood the situation, Maya pulled him back in front of Luke and stated with conviction, “The car wasn’t damaged by Morgan.
And the watch wasn’t taken by him.”
In front of everyone, she turned all of Morgan’s pockets inside out, from his shirt to his pants.
“See?
Nothing!”
Just then, someone ran out from inside the shop.
“The watch is here!
It was in the clothes Morgan changed out of!”