Chapter 4 - VICTOR KNEW WHO I WAS BEFORE ROMAN INTRODUCED ME
Victor recovered quickly.
People who survived around power usually did.
“Boston is not a village, Roman.”
He removed his gloves.
“Your dog runs into a shop.”
“Police arrive.”
“Word travels.”
Emma folded her arms.
“That fast?”
Victor looked at her.
“Faster than you think.”
Roman said nothing.
That was worse.
Sofia leaned against the mantel.
“Which person told you?”
Victor smiled.
“My assistant.”
“Colin?”
“Yes.”
Sofia looked at Roman.
Colin Reeve.
The same aide whose badge had entered the dog-equipment room.
Victor noticed the exchange.
“What?”
Roman answered:
“Nothing.”
Dinner continued.
That was the Calder family version of warfare.
Six people around a long table pretending nobody had just discovered a new reason for suspicion.
Victor sat at Roman’s right.
Sofia across from him.
Emma beside Sofia because she had quietly refused the seat Roman’s housekeeper offered near the end.
Titan lay between Emma’s chair and the wall.
Victor glanced at him.
“He looks fine.”
Emma replied:
“He isn’t.”
Victor cut his steak.
“Dogs recover.”
“Sometimes.”
“He’s bred for resilience.”
Emma looked at him.
“There is that word again.”
“What?”
“People keep describing what Titan was bred or trained to tolerate.”
“Nobody talks about why he should have to tolerate pain.”
Victor’s mouth tightened.
“You’re emotionally invested.”
“Yes.”
“Quickly.”
“Fear is easy to recognize.”
Roman’s gaze moved toward Emma.
Victor noticed.
Interesting.
“So.”
Victor said.
“You own the pet shop?”
“Yes.”
“Successful?”
“Depends what you mean.”
“Profitable.”
Emma smiled.
“That is a rude dinner question.”
Victor smiled back.
“Good.”
“You’re less timid than I expected.”
Emma stopped.
Expected.
Roman stopped too.
Sofia slowly placed down her fork.
Emma asked:
“Expected from what?”
Victor looked irritated with himself.
Then:
“From the security report.”
Roman’s voice was quiet.
“You’ve seen it?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“I sit on oversight.”
“You do not sit on operational security.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“I’m still family.”
Sofia said:
“That is not a job title.”
Victor ignored her.
Roman continued:
“Did you change Titan’s transport?”
Victor wiped his mouth.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Emma looked at Roman.
Roman’s face revealed nothing.
“Why?”
“Vincent had a board briefing.”
“You ordered the briefing.”
“I needed him.”
“You substituted Felix.”
“He was available.”
“You entered the equipment room.”
Victor paused.
“When?”
“Ten-sixteen yesterday.”
Victor smiled slightly.
“You’re auditing badge logs now?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“I taught you something.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
Victor continued:
“I was looking for you.”
“In the dog room?”
“I thought you were in the garage.”
“Camera was out.”
“I don’t manage cameras.”
“Your aide entered too.”
Victor glanced toward the door.
“Colin runs errands.”
Sofia asked:
“What errand?”
“I don’t remember.”
Emma watched Titan.
The dog remained alert but not panicked.
Whatever Titan associated with direct pain, Victor alone did not trigger it.
That mattered.
But not enough.
Victor looked at Emma.
“You’re watching the dog.”
“Yes.”
“Expecting him to accuse me?”
“No.”
“I expect humans to do that.”
Sofia almost laughed.
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
Emma continued:
“Titan reacting to you would not prove anything.”
“Titan not reacting does not clear you.”
“Good.”
Victor leaned back.
“You’re smarter than the store suggests.”
Emma smiled.
“And you’re ruder than the newspapers suggest.”
Roman looked down, hiding something that might have been amusement.
Victor noticed that too.
His attention shifted.
“Roman.”
“Yes?”
“You brought a civilian into a family issue.”
“You brought my dog into one.”
The room chilled.
Victor stopped.
Emma felt it.
Roman had not asked whether Victor did it.
He had phrased it as fact.
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“Careful.”
Sofia looked toward Emma.
There it was.
The family word for threat.
Emma put down her fork.
“I’m suddenly not hungry.”
Roman immediately stood.
Victor looked irritated.
“She can leave.”
Emma stared.
“I wasn’t asking.”
Roman almost smiled.
“I know.”
Sofia joined them.
Victor remained seated.
“Roman.”
Roman stopped.
“If you walk out of this room because a pet-store owner became uncomfortable, your father would be ashamed.”
The words landed.
Roman turned slowly.
Sofia whispered:
“Victor.”
“No.”
Victor stood.
“You are dismantling everything Michael built.”
“Selling assets.”
“Cutting old relationships.”
“Putting lawyers between family members.”
“And now a stranger walks in and suddenly you accuse me because a dog had a bad morning?”
Roman’s face became empty.
Emma had learned enough to understand empty was dangerous.
“My father is dead.”
Victor replied:
“Because men around him stopped understanding loyalty.”
Sofia’s voice sharpened.
“That is enough.”
Victor turned toward her.
“You stay out of this.”
“No.”
“I have spent fifteen years staying out of whatever version of loyalty you two use to excuse everything.”
Emma looked between them.
The subplot was no longer subtle.
Roman said:
“We’re leaving.”
Victor laughed.
“From your own table?”
“Yes.”
Roman looked at Emma.
“Titan.”
He stopped himself.
Then:
“Emma.”
She almost smiled.
Titan stood when she did.
Victor watched.
Something in his face changed.
Not jealousy.
Recognition.
Emma followed Roman toward the hall.
Then Victor said:
“Titan always comes back.”
Roman stopped.
Victor continued.
“Animals know where they belong.”
Emma looked down.
Titan had stopped too.
His body stiffened.
Not at Victor.
At the doorway behind him.
Colin Reeve had entered.
Victor’s aide.
Thin.
Forties.
Dark blue suit.
Titan’s lips lifted.
A growl rolled through the room.
Colin froze.
Emma immediately crouched.
“Don’t move.”
Roman turned.
“Colin.”
The aide stared at Titan.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Emma noticed his right hand.
Gloved.
He held a leather portfolio.
A familiar smell reached her even across the room.
Cedar.
The same sharp conditioner from the security room.
Emma looked at Roman.
“Do you smell that?”
Roman frowned.
“What?”
Sofia moved closer.
Then understood.
“Leather.”
Emma nodded.
“Same product.”
Colin looked down at the portfolio.
“It’s conditioner.”
“Which kind?”
Emma asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Where did you get it?”
“Office supply.”
Titan growled harder.
Emma said:
“Back up.”
Colin did.
Titan’s breathing eased.
Roman watched.
Victor looked annoyed.
“This is absurd.”
Emma turned.
“No.”
“What?”
“He may be reacting to scent associated with the harness.”
“That means nothing about Colin.”
“I agree.”
Victor stopped.
Emma continued:
“But Colin entered the equipment room.”
“He carries leather treated with the same unusual product Titan fears.”
“And Titan reacts more strongly to him than to you.”
Sofia looked at Victor.
“That’s worth asking about.”
Victor’s face changed.
Too small for anyone who did not know him.
Roman knew him.
“Colin.”
Victor said.
“Go home.”
Roman immediately replied:
“No.”
Victor stared.
Roman continued:
“He stays.”
Colin swallowed.
“This is ridiculous.”
Roman looked toward Dante, who had entered the hall.
“Take his phone.”
Victor stepped forward.
“You will not search my employee because a dog growled.”
Roman looked at his uncle.
“Then tell me why you care so much.”
Silence.
There.
Not confession.
Contradiction.
Victor’s anger had arrived too fast.
Emma saw Sofia notice.
Colin noticed too.
He suddenly threw the portfolio toward Titan.
Emma flinched.
Titan barked.
Colin ran.
Dante tackled him before he reached the front door.
The portfolio burst open.
Papers scattered.
One small bottle rolled across the marble.
Cedar leather treatment.
Emma stared.
Roman picked it up.
Colin stopped fighting.
Victor looked at the bottle.
Then at Colin.
His expression became genuinely confused.
That mattered.
Roman saw it too.
“You didn’t know.”
Victor looked at him.
For once, the older man had no polished answer.
Colin whispered:
“I want a lawyer.”
Roman smiled without humor.
“So do I.”
Police arrived again.
Emma began to think Roman should install a designated detective parking space.
Colin’s phone was seized legally after Morales secured authorization.
The immediate search of his person found no weapon beyond what his security clearance permitted.
But his notebook contained dates.
Pier Nine.
Titan’s appointments.
Roman’s movements.
And three initials repeated beside several entries.
V.C.
Victor Calder.
Victor saw the page.
His face went gray.
“That is not mine.”
Roman looked at him.
“Maybe.”
Victor stared.
“You believe him over me?”
“No.”
Roman’s voice remained calm.
“I believe paper more than either of you.”
Sofia smiled faintly.
“Finally.”
Victor looked at Roman as if his nephew had struck him.
Then left.
Not detained.
There was not yet enough evidence.
Emma watched him disappear into the rain.
Roman stood beside her.
“You think he’s innocent.”
Emma shook her head.
“I think his surprise was real.”
“People fake surprise.”
“Yes.”
“You’re famous for noticing lies.”
He looked at her.
“Apparently so are you.”
Emma glanced toward Titan.
“I notice fear.”
Roman’s voice softened.
“Same family.”
That sentence stayed with her.
By midnight, Colin’s employment records revealed something Victor had not known.
He had been hired through a security subcontractor recommended by someone else.
Not Victor.
Not Felix.
Not Vincent.
The recommendation came from a Calder executive who had appeared helpful, quiet, and almost invisible throughout the crisis.
May you like
Roman’s cousin Julian Calder.
And unlike Victor, Julian had everything to gain if Roman and Victor destroyed each other first.
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