Chapter 13
Nina asked me what would happen to Victor.
I told her the truth.
“I don’t know yet.”
She nodded.
Good.
Everyone else wanted spectacle.
Punishment.
Something dramatic enough to balance what they had watched.
I did not want to make Ellie’s recovery another family performance.
Victor would lose access to her.
That part was immediate.
Permanent unless she chose otherwise when she was old enough.
The organization was separate.
He no longer had command.
Now he would lose proximity.
He hated that.
“You’re keeping my granddaughter from me.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
“You are.”
“I’m keeping you from her.”
“Same thing.”
I almost smiled.
“No.”
Again.
Always his favorite trick.
Collapsing differences.
“You had access.”
I stepped closer.
“You used it to hurt her.”
“She is my blood.”
“That is not a license.”
His jaw tightened.
“You’ll regret teaching children they can cut off family.”
I stared.
“I’m teaching her family does not get extra permission to hurt her.”
That silenced him.
Not because he agreed.
Because he knew Ellie could hear from the hallway.
She stood there holding Nina’s hand.
Victor saw her.
His face softened immediately.
Performance.
“Ellie.”
She moved closer to Nina.
Victor looked hurt.
“You don’t want Grandpa?”
My daughter’s eyes filled.
I stepped forward.
Victor raised a hand.
“I was only teaching you to be strong.”
Ellie whispered:
“I don’t like being strong with you.”
The room went silent.
I felt my throat tighten.
Victor looked stunned.
A four-year-old had dismantled his entire philosophy in one sentence.
She did not want the kind of strength he offered.
The kind built from surviving him.
Victor’s face hardened again.
“You’ve poisoned her against me.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
Then at Ellie.
May you like
“She finally knows she can say no.”
That was the real thing he could not forgive.
