Chapter 7
Brian turned on Victor.
“What does ‘for now’ mean?”
Victor looked bored.
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
Melissa stood.
“You said Brian would take control.”
Victor looked at her.
“He would.”
“For how long?”
Silence.
Melissa’s face changed.
“How long?”
Victor tapped his cane against the floor.
“You both wanted certainty where none existed.”
Brian stepped forward.
“You promised me the south crews.”
Victor laughed.
“I promised to discuss them.”
“You said—”
“I said what kept you useful.”
That sentence destroyed whatever remained.
Brian lunged.
Two guards stopped him.
Victor barely moved.
“Look at you.”
Then crueler:
“You fed your own father dog food and still thought you were the hero.”
Brian’s face reddened.
Victor continued.
“You couldn’t control one old man without your wife filming it.”
Valentina watched.
The humiliation that Brian enjoyed inflicting on Walter now returned from above him.
Victor looked toward Melissa.
“And you.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You were supposed to manage him.”
“I did.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
“You encouraged every stupid impulse he had because it made him easier.”
Melissa’s face went white.
Brian looked at her.
“Is that true?”
She snapped:
“Don’t start.”
Victor smiled.
“There she is.”
He looked at Brian.
“Whenever you doubted the plan, she called you weak.”
Brian remembered.
Valentina could see it.
Victor continued.
“Whenever you wanted to stop, she reminded you your sister was ‘taking your birthright.’”
Brian looked toward Melissa.
She said nothing.
Victor leaned back.
“She trained you better than I could.”
Melissa shouted:
“Shut up.”
He smiled.
“You see?”
Then Walter spoke.
“Neither of them matters to you.”
Victor looked at him.
Walter continued.
“Only the old crews.”
“Yes.”
Honest again.
“Why?”
Victor’s face hardened.
“Because Valentina turned a family into a corporation.”
Valentina raised an eyebrow.
Victor continued.
“She negotiates.”
“She compromises.”
“She feeds enemies rather than burying them.”
“She asks questions before punishment.”
His contempt grew with every word.
“And men have started forgetting what Hartwell means.”
Walter smiled faintly.
“Maybe they remember better than you.”
Victor glared.
Walter pointed at Brian.
“Is that Hartwell?”
Then Melissa.
“That?”
Finally Victor.
“An old man using hunger against another old man?”
Victor’s face darkened.
Walter continued.
“You talk about tradition because nobody would follow you if you called it envy.”
Silence.
Valentina almost smiled.
Victor stood.
His voice became low.
“You always were sentimental about your daughter.”
Walter looked at him.
Victor continued.
“She should have married.”
“Had children.”
“Moved aside.”
Valentina’s expression hardened.
Victor smiled.
“There.”
“That face.”
“You hate hearing it because you know I’m right.”
Walter said:
“No.”
Victor looked at him.
Walter continued.
“She stayed because Brian wasn’t ready.”
Brian flinched.
“And you knew it.”
Victor’s face tightened.
Then Walter added:
“You still know it.”
That hurt more.
Victor looked toward the clock.
9:12.
The Founders’ Supper began at ten.
He smiled.
“Doesn’t matter.”
Valentina asked:
“Why?”
“Because the old men have already seen the video.”
Melissa’s face changed.
Brian turned toward her.
Victor smiled.
“Edited.”
May you like
Valentina’s expression became cold.
The trap had already left the house.
