Chapter 9
Victor wanted the command room opened.
I hesitated.
Not because I feared him.
Because Ryan wanted it too badly.
“What’s inside now?”
Victor asked.
“Nothing important.”
Ryan laughed.
“Then open it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you want me to.”
His face hardened.
Victor looked between us.
“You think the old room still contains loyalty lists?”
Ryan froze.
There.
Victor smiled without humor.
“So that’s what Vivian told you.”
Ryan looked at his mother.
“She said my father kept names.”
Vivian crossed her arms.
“He did.”
Victor shook his head.
“Harold kept debts.”
Different.
Not men loyal to him.
Men he believed he owned.
I looked at Vivian.
“You thought the black ledger was in there.”
“Yes.”
Finally.
“What did you want?”
“Names.”
“Of people Harold controlled.”
“People who owed him.”
Same thing to her.
Ryan looked sick.
“You said those men would support me.”
“They would.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
Vivian turned.
“They owed Harold.”
“Harold is dead.”
“Debt survives.”
Victor shook his head.
“Fear survives only while people think the threat still exists.”
I understood.
Vivian wanted the ledger to resurrect Harold’s network through Ryan.
Old secrets.
Old pressure.
Old shame.
Another generation of control.
Margaret whispered:
“The ledger is gone.”
Vivian snapped:
“You lie.”
My mother flinched.
I stepped between them.
“She doesn’t.”
Ryan looked at me.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to it?”
“My father burned it.”
Vivian’s face emptied.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before I took command.”
She actually staggered.
Twelve days of abuse.
A bruised old woman.
Hungry children.
A cleared house.
All for ashes.
Ryan started laughing.
Not because it was funny.
Because his entire plan suddenly looked stupid.
Vivian turned on him.
“Stop.”
He laughed harder.
“You said it was there.”
“It should have been.”
“You said we could control half the old guard.”
“We still can.”
“With what?”
She slapped him.
The room froze.
Ryan stared at his mother.
Vivian hissed:
“Don’t embarrass me.”
There it was.
Not strategy.
Not family.
Her deepest fear.
Humiliation.
Ryan touched his cheek.
May you like
And for the first time, he looked at Vivian the way my children had been looking at her for twelve days.
Like someone dangerous.
