Chapter 5 - WHY VICTOR STOOD OUTSIDE THE DOOR
“You decide what everyone can handle,” I told him.
“You decide Finn can’t handle hearing about his mother.”
Silence.
“You decide I can’t handle knowing why I’m here.”
Silence.
“You decide Elena’s instructions belong to you because you survived her.”
His jaw tightened.
“And then when Finn loves me, you punish me for the closeness you arranged.”
Victor turned away.
Then quietly:
“Yes.”
No defense.
I almost hated him more for making honesty so easy now.
“What happened tonight?” I asked.
“The sirens?”
“No.”
I pointed toward his bruised jaw.
“What happened before you came home?”
“A business disagreement.”
“I don’t want details that put Finn or me at risk. Tell me what matters.”
Victor looked toward the ceiling.
“Someone I trusted stole from one of my companies.”
“Police?”
“Yes.”
“So the sirens were connected to your business.”
“Yes.”
“And you walked in angry.”
“Yes.”
“And saw Finn needed me again.”
Something shifted.
“You were jealous.”
Victor looked almost offended.
Then tired.
“Yes.”
“Of your son?”
“No.”
“Of me?”
“Of what you can give him.”
I went quiet.
Victor sat down.
“When he wakes from nightmares, he calls you.”
“He trusts me.”
“I know.”
“When he’s scared, you lower your voice and somehow the room becomes normal.”
“I learned what helps.”
“I stand outside his door.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know why?”
“I assumed you didn’t know what to do.”
“That too.”
Then his voice changed.
“But mostly because the last time Elena asked me to come home early, I told her I was busy.”
My breath stopped.
“The night before she died.”
Victor looked at his hands.
“Finn had a fever. Nothing serious. Elena was tired. She asked me to come home.”
“And?”
“I said I had work.”
His voice was barely audible.
“She told me I was always at work.”
Silence.
“I told her she knew what she married.”
His eyes filled.
“The next morning she left to visit her sister.”
“The accident.”
“Yes.”
“I never saw her again.”
Oh.
“Victor…”
“Finn asked for me that night too.”
My throat tightened.
“I wasn’t there.”
He looked at me.
“I know the accident wasn’t punishment for staying at work.”
Good.
“But my last ordinary choice with Elena was to choose something else over home.”
There it was.
The chipped mug.
The hallway.
The fortress.
Victor had not built control because he felt powerful.
He built it because unpredictability had once taken the person he loved.
May you like
Control was his superstition.
And now he was using it to lose Finn too.
