Chapter 10 - ROMAN’S UNCLE BETRAYED HIM, BUT THE HARDEST CHOICE WAS WHETHER TO SHOW UP WHEN VICTOR ALMOST DIED
Sofia called at six in the morning.
“Roman.”
Emma could hear her through the phone.
“He’s in Mass General.”
Roman sat up.
Titan lifted his head.
“Who?”
“Victor.”
Pause.
“Heart attack.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“ICU.”
“Does he want us?”
Sofia’s voice broke.
“He asked for you.”
Roman said nothing.
Emma sat beside him.
He had fallen asleep on her couch after a late dinner.
Nothing dramatic.
They had reached the stage where Roman Calder could sleep on a pet-store owner’s couch without turning it into a relationship announcement.
Sofia whispered:
“Roman?”
“I’m coming.”
The call ended.
Roman remained seated.
Emma asked:
“Do you want me there?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
So she went.
Victor looked smaller in a hospital bed.
Machines tend to equalize people.
No board.
No family table.
No tailored suit.
Just an old man with bruised hands.
Sofia stood by the window.
Roman entered.
Victor opened his eyes.
“Boy.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“I’m thirty-nine.”
“You’re still irritating.”
Emma almost smiled.
Roman sat.
Victor saw Emma.
“The shopkeeper.”
Emma sighed.
“You almost die and still choose rude.”
Victor’s mouth moved.
“Consistency.”
Then his expression changed.
He looked at Roman.
“I heard the agreement.”
Roman nodded.
“You admitted your part.”
“Yes.”
“Your father would hate it.”
Roman smiled sadly.
“I know.”
Victor looked away.
“I hated it too.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then Victor said:
“I thought I was protecting Michael.”
Roman’s face tightened.
“He’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“I know that now.”
Roman stared.
Victor continued:
“When your father died, everything he did became memory.”
“I thought if we admitted the ugly parts, it would erase the rest.”
“So you hid records.”
“Yes.”
“You let Julian move money.”
“Yes.”
“You ordered cameras down.”
“Yes.”
“You helped create the situation.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t know about Titan.”
Victor’s eyes filled.
“No.”
Roman waited.
“I would never hurt Matteo’s dog.”
Emma looked at Roman.
That sentence landed.
Victor continued:
“But I helped people who did.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
Roman’s voice remained controlled.
Victor asked:
“Do you forgive me?”
Emma looked away.
Not her question.
Roman took a long time.
“No.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Sofia looked at Roman sharply.
Roman continued:
“But I came.”
Victor’s eyes opened.
“That is what I can give you today.”
The old man nodded.
“That’s more than I earned.”
Good.
No instant absolution.
Victor recovered.
Slowly.
He faced investigation but his cooperation and health changed timing, not responsibility.
He permanently left business.
Moved to a smaller home outside Providence.
Roman visited twice that year.
Not weekly.
Not never.
Boundaries.
Emma understood.
Meanwhile, Second Chance Pet Supply was approaching its own decision.
The building owner accepted Emma’s purchase offer.
She nearly threw up signing the loan documents.
Roman attended closing because Emma asked.
He did not pay.
He did not guarantee.
He brought a squeaky lobster.
“You’re ridiculous.”
Emma said.
“It’s symbolic.”
“Of what?”
“Financial independence.”
“It cost twelve dollars.”
“Exactly.”
Sofia invested in nothing.
Lena bought too much dog shampoo in celebration.
Dante installed a new camera system at cost.
Emma paid the invoice.
Roman looked proud.
“Stop.”
Emma said.
“What?”
“Looking like I graduated.”
“You bought a building.”
“With terrifying debt.”
“Still.”
They added a small canine recovery room in the back.
Not named after Roman.
Emma threatened him preemptively.
Instead, a brass plaque read:
JOANNE’S ROOM — FOR ANIMALS WHO NEED TIME BEFORE TRUST
Roman stared at it.
“Your mother.”
“Yes.”
Titan was the first dog to lie inside.
Roman sat beside him.
Emma stood at the door.
“Come here.”
Roman said.
Emma raised one eyebrow.
He corrected immediately.
“Would you come here?”
She smiled.
“Better.”
She sat.
Titan placed one paw across Roman’s shoe.
The other across Emma’s.
Equal opportunity.
Roman looked down.
“He used to sit on your foot because he was afraid.”
Emma nodded.
“Now?”
“Now he’s manipulative.”
Titan sighed.
Roman reached for Emma’s hand.
Stopped before touching.
Asked with his eyes.
She let him.
Another learned habit.
Months later, Felix’s case concluded.
Records and testimony established he knowingly used the aversive device repeatedly to condition Titan’s panic response.
Colin had coordinated schedule changes.
Julian authorized a diversion without demanding to know how it would be created.
Victor knowingly arranged the Pier Nine camera outage to conceal records but was not shown to have ordered harm to Titan.
No single villain owned every action.
That mattered.
Systems become dangerous when several people each do one “small” wrong and assume someone else is responsible for the whole.
Roman told Emma:
“That sounds like my family.”
Emma replied:
“That sounds like most disasters.”
The final unresolved question involved Titan himself.
Who did he belong to now?
Legally, Roman.
Emotionally?
Complicated.
Titan spent half the week at Second Chance.
Customers adored him.
Children read books beside him during adoption events.
He hated delivery scooters.
Loved bananas.
Tolerated Dante.
Trusted Lena.
And finally, one evening, Roman called him from across Emma’s store.
“Titan.”
The dog looked up.
Roman waited.
“Come.”
Emma watched.
No remote.
No painful harness.
No crowd.
No fear.
Titan stood.
Walked across the store.
Sat directly on Roman’s foot.
Emma laughed so hard she had to lean against the counter.
Roman stared down.
“This is not funny.”
“It is extremely funny.”
Titan leaned harder.
Roman looked at Emma.
“You taught him this.”
“No.”
“Your influence.”
“Maybe he has excellent judgment.”
Roman shook his head.
Then smiled.
For the first time, the same act that once represented Titan’s fear became something else.
Choice.
He could walk away.
May you like
He came anyway.
That was the difference Roman had spent a year learning.
