Chapter 6
Melissa refused to hand over the phone.
Victor’s patience disappeared.
“I said give it to me.”
She stared.
Then laughed nervously.
“You don’t order me.”
Victor leaned forward.
“You have spent six months doing exactly what I told you.”
Brian looked at his wife.
“Six months?”
Melissa said nothing.
Victor stopped.
Too late.
Again.
Valentina watched the marriage fracture in real time.
Brian turned.
“What did he mean?”
Melissa folded her arms.
“Nothing.”
Victor laughed.
“She convinced you to move Walter in.”
Brian stared.
Valentina’s eyes narrowed.
Walter had moved into the house seven months earlier after a minor fall.
He could have lived anywhere.
Melissa insisted family should care for him.
At the time, everyone praised her.
Public kindness.
Private cage.
Brian looked at her.
“You said Dad needed us.”
Melissa’s face hardened.
“He did.”
Walter spoke.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
“I needed somewhere comfortable for two weeks.”
He looked at Melissa.
“You kept finding reasons I shouldn’t leave.”
Melissa rolled her eyes.
“You nearly fell.”
“One time.”
“You forgot medication.”
“You hid it.”
Silence.
Brian looked at her.
“What?”
Walter nodded.
“The first week.”
“She moved my pills.”
“Then told everyone I’d forgotten them.”
Melissa laughed.
“Listen to him.”
But Brian wasn’t.
Not anymore.
Walter continued.
“Then the clocks.”
“The phone.”
“Meals.”
“Every week I became more ‘confused.’”
Victor interrupted.
“Enough.”
Valentina looked at him.
“No.”
Then to Walter:
“Keep going.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
Walter did.
“They wanted me dependent.”
Brian whispered:
“Why?”
Victor answered before Melissa could.
“Because old men believe weakness more easily when they can see it.”
Walter stared.
Victor shrugged.
“Your father needed to look incapable.”
There it was.
Not merely be broken.
Look broken.
The dog food.
Missing clocks.
Confusion.
Withheld meals.
All of it built a story.
Walter Hartwell was senile.
Walter could no longer judge leadership.
Therefore any message from him could be “interpreted” by others.
Valentina asked:
“Then why force recordings?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Because some men still prefer hearing the old lion roar.”
Brian looked sick.
“Recording?”
Melissa shut her eyes.
Valentina turned.
“What did you make him record?”
Walter whispered:
“Four versions.”
Brian stared at his father.
Walter continued.
“They starved me until I read it.”
Melissa snapped:
“You missed two meals.”
Valentina looked at her.
Melissa shrugged.
“You act like he was dying.”
Walter’s face tightened.
She continued.
“He had water.”
Then:
“And maybe if he’d cooperated the first time, he wouldn’t have been hungry.”
Brian slowly sat.
For the first time, even he looked disgusted.
Melissa noticed.
“Don’t.”
He looked at her.
“You starved him for a recording?”
She laughed.
“You threw dog food at him.”
That silenced him.
Good.
No moral escape.
Victor tapped his cane.
“Enough family therapy.”
Valentina looked at him.
“You planned to play Walter’s recording tonight.”
“Yes.”
“Then show my video.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
Victor smiled.
“The men choose.”
“Brian?”
Victor glanced at him.
“For now.”
Brian went completely still.
“For now?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
He hadn't meant to say it.
Valentina looked at her brother.
May you like
And Brian finally realized he had never been the destination.
Only the temporary face of the coup.
