Chapter 17 - The Man Who Owned My Fear
Roman ordered the gates locked.
Victor remained inside his car, smiling at the security cameras as though he had arrived for a friendly visit.
"He wants you to come outside," Dominic reported.
"Then he can keep waiting," Roman replied.
I stood beside the window, watching the man who had controlled my life for nearly a decade.
He looked exactly as I remembered him: silver hair, immaculate suit, and a face that never revealed what he was thinking.
But I was no longer seventeen.
I was no longer trapped in his basement.
And I was no longer alone.
Roman turned toward me.
"You don't have to see him."
"I know."
"Whatever happens, you don't owe him a conversation."
I studied Victor through the glass.
"Yes, I do."
Roman's expression tightened.
"Why?"
"Because he has spent years deciding what I can remember, what I can say, and where I can go. If I never face him, he'll keep living inside every room I enter."
Roman remained silent.
Finally, he nodded.
"We'll do this your way."
Victor was escorted into the estate's reception room. Security officers remained near the doors, while Dominic watched from the adjoining corridor.
Roman stood beside me.
Victor's gaze moved between us.
"How touching," he said. "The great Roman Blackmere protecting a frightened little maid."
I felt the old reflex stir inside me.
Then I remembered the years I had spent surviving him.
"I'm not frightened of you anymore," I said.
Victor smiled.
"Of course you are."
He lifted his hand to adjust his cuff.
My body tensed, but I remained standing.
Roman noticed.
Victor noticed too.
His smile widened.
"See? Some lessons never disappear."
I took a breath.
"No. But people can learn new ones."
For the first time, his expression faltered.
Roman placed a folder on the table.
"We have the recording, the financial records, and testimony from Lydia Mercer. We also have evidence connecting you to the destruction of the warehouse."
Victor glanced at the folder.
"You have fragments."
"We have enough to begin."
"Begin what? A public spectacle? Your father would be ashamed of you."
Roman's face hardened.
"My father is the reason we're having this conversation."
Victor laughed.
"Richard was weak. He wanted to confess everything and destroy the family. I stopped him from making a foolish mistake."
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
"What did you do to him?"
Victor looked at me.
"Your mother asked the same question."
"What did you do?"
He leaned back.
"Your mother never understood that powerful men sometimes make difficult decisions."
Roman stepped forward.
"Answer her."
Victor's smile disappeared.
"Richard suffered a medical crisis. I made certain his death didn't destroy the businesses he spent his life building."
"You altered his records."
"I protected his legacy."
"You concealed a murder."
Victor's eyes sharpened.
"You have no idea what you're accusing me of."
I reached into my pocket and placed a small recording device on the table.
Victor went pale.
My mother had given it to me before I left Pennsylvania.
She had kept a second recording, made during the final weeks before her disappearance.
Victor's voice emerged from the speaker.
"If Richard refuses to cooperate, I will make certain Roman inherits a disaster. The boy will spend the rest of his life cleaning up what his father started."
The recording ended.
Victor stared at the device.
Then he looked at me.
For the first time in my life, he appeared genuinely afraid.
"You have no idea what you've done," he whispered.
I met his eyes.
"Neither did you."
He rose abruptly.
Security moved toward him.
But before anyone could reach the door, Victor began to laugh.
"You think you've won?"
He looked directly at Roman.
"Ask your mother what happened the night you were born."
Then he was escorted from the room.
Roman remained motionless.
I turned toward him.
"What did he mean?"
Roman's face had gone white.
"I don't know."
But the way he said it made me realize that Victor had just opened another door.
May you like
And whatever waited behind it might be more dangerous than anything we had uncovered.
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