David turned, and for the first time in my life, his confidence cracked. This wasn’t the nervous grin he used when he got caught lying as a kid. This was raw panic—the look of someone who knows the ground has just given way beneath him.
“What did you do?” I shouted, my voice breaking before I could stop it.
He tried to play dumb, but the mask didn’t hold. “Miguel, calm down. You’re imagining things. Why are you crying?”
“Immigration is coming for me,” I said. “They know my address. My full name. Things only family knows.”
The color drained from his face.
The car he’d been leaning against pulled away, tires hissing against the pavement, leaving us alone on the sidewalk where we’d once shared jokes, secrets, and dreams. That place would never feel the same again.
