Chapter 8
The video lasted seventeen seconds.
Dominic showed it to Valentina.
No dog food.
No hose of humiliation.
No bowl thrown at her shoulder.
No first punch.
It began with Brian already falling through the drinks cart.
Then Melissa flying backward through the birthday display.
Then Valentina saying:
Tomorrow, you won’t even have dog food to eat.
Perfect.
A violent boss threatening her brother and sister-in-law at her father’s birthday.
Dominic looked ashamed.
“Three men believed it immediately.”
“How many received it?”
“Five.”
All remaining old capos.
Walter stared at Melissa.
“You filmed me so you could cut me out.”
She shrugged.
“Your part was ugly.”
Valentina looked at her.
Melissa smiled.
“Bad lighting too.”
Even now.
Cruelty as confidence.
“Did you enjoy it?”
Valentina asked.
Melissa tilted her head.
“Enjoy what?”
“Humiliating him.”
Melissa looked toward Walter.
Then smiled.
“He made it easy.”
Walter’s face tightened.
“He sat there.”
“He took it.”
She shrugged.
“People only get humiliated when they let themselves.”
Valentina took one step forward.
Melissa’s smile weakened.
Still, she continued.
“Maybe if he had some pride left, Brian wouldn’t have had to remind him who pays the bills.”
Walter laughed.
Not pleasantly.
“My money bought the house.”
Melissa’s face changed.
Brian looked at her.
Walter continued.
“The utilities.”
“The staff.”
“Your car for two years.”
Silence.
Melissa snapped:
“That doesn’t make it yours.”
Walter smiled.
“No.”
Then:
“It makes your ‘he lives here for free’ line especially stupid.”
Dominic laughed once.
Brian looked away.
Melissa’s face burned.
Valentina returned to the video.
“Who edited it?”
Victor answered:
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“The men saw what they needed.”
Valentina looked at Dominic.
“What did you think?”
He hesitated.
“That something was wrong.”
“Why?”
“You don’t strike people without cause.”
Victor scoffed.
Dominic looked at him.
“And because the clip starts in the middle.”
Simple.
Victor had underestimated old men too.
Not all of them wanted drama.
Some wanted context.
Valentina handed Melissa’s phone to Thomas.
“Recover the full recording.”
Melissa stood.
“No.”
Thomas looked at Valentina.
She nodded.
Melissa stepped backward.
“Private property.”
Valentina almost laughed.
“Now?”
Melissa’s face hardened.
“You can’t just take my phone.”
Walter spoke:
“She took mine for five days.”
Melissa looked at him.
He smiled faintly.
“Uncomfortable, isn’t it?”
Thomas recovered the original.
Two minutes, forty-nine seconds.
Everything.
Brian dumping kibble.
Melissa laughing.
The dog eating prime rib.
Valentina entering.
Brian throwing the bowl.
Brian striking first.
Melissa rushing for Walter’s phone.
No ambiguity.
Dominic watched.
His face became disgusted.
Victor remained calm.
“Too late.”
Valentina looked at him.
“The first version traveled first.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Truth always arrives slower.”
He smiled.
Valentina nodded.
“Then we don’t send it.”
Victor frowned.
Dominic looked at her.
“What?”
Valentina handed him the phone.
“We show them.”
“Tonight.”
“At the river house.”
Victor’s face changed.
“You’re going?”
“Yes.”
Walter stood.
“So am I.”
Brian immediately said:
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
He swallowed.
Then, for once, sounded like a son.
“Dad, no.”
Walter stared.
Brian continued:
“You’re tired.”
Walter’s expression sharpened.
“Don’t use that word on me again.”
Brian went silent.
Walter picked up his cardigan.
“I have spent five days being told I’m too old to choose when I eat.”
He looked toward Victor.
“Tonight I choose where I go.”
Valentina nodded.
No argument.
That was the difference.
Then Walter’s phone buzzed again.
A message from Samuel Price.
One of the old capos.
DON’T COME. VICTOR SAYS BRIAN ALREADY HAS THE HOUSE.
Walter looked at Brian.
Brian’s face went pale.
“Has the house?”
Victor looked away.
May you like
And Valentina realized the Founders’ Supper wasn’t only going to decide leadership.
Victor had already told the old crews the decision was over.
