He looked into Old Qiao's eyes, his face filled with guilt.
"I'm sorry, Old Qiao. I'm sorry, everyone."
Leo's voice, picked up by the live audio equipment Sarah had prepared, carried clearly to the livestream viewers.
"The money is right there."
Leo turned and pointed directly behind him, at a large, curtained window on the third floor of the City Hall building.
"That's the money the Federal Government allocated to us. It's your hard-earned money. Two and a half million US Dollars, and it's all in that account."
"But the man behind that window, Mr. Martin Carter Wright, has taken the key."
"He told us that he had to freeze the funds because we needed to fill out a survey report on 'how to safely eat a sandwich on a construction site.'"
"He told us that for the sake of administrative compliance, your children must go hungry, you must fall behind on your rent, and you must stop taking your medicine."
Leo's voice rose, laced with fury.
