Understanding.
“When I found Mateo,” she said, “he was trapped. Someone wanted him gone.”
The crowd grew still.
“I could have walked away.”
She paused.
“No one would have blamed me.”
Silence.
“But I didn’t.”
Her voice grew stronger.
“Not because I wasn’t scared… but because I was.”
She stepped down from the crate.
Now she was closer to them.
One of them.
“They want us to leave,” Lupita said.
“They want this place empty again.”
Her eyes moved across the crowd.
“They want things to go back to how they were.”
A long pause.
Then—
“Do you?”
The question hung in the air.
Heavy.
Unavoidable.
A woman in the front shook her head slowly.
Then another.
Then someone spoke.
“No.”
Another voice followed.
“No.”
Stronger this time.
Lupita nodded.
“Then we don’t leave.”
Her voice was steady now.
“We stay.”
A murmur of agreement began to rise.
Not loud.
Not yet.
But growing.
That was when it happened.
A sudden noise.
An engine.
A black truck pulled up near the edge of the road.
Too fast.
Too aggressive.
The crowd froze.
The doors opened.
Three men stepped out.
The same kind Lupita had seen before.
The same kind who didn’t hide what they were.
Everything went still.
Fear returned.
Sharp.
Immediate.
Real.
One of the men stepped forward.
“You talk too much,” he said, looking directly at Lupita.
Mateo moved instantly, stepping between them.
“That’s enough,” he said firmly.
The man smirked.
“You think you can protect all of them?”
Mateo didn’t answer.
Because this wasn’t about words anymore.
Lupita stepped forward.
Before anyone could stop her.
Her heart pounded—but her feet didn’t hesitate.
She moved beside Mateo.
Not behind him.
Beside him.
“You’re wrong,” she said, her voice clear.
The man raised an eyebrow.
“About what?”
Lupita looked at the crowd.
Then back at him.
“You think we’re alone.”
A pause.
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