Chapter 5 - THE REVENGE ELENA REFUSED TO LET HIM TAKE
Victor listened to the recording alone the second time.
Then a third.
Aliyah waited outside the vault.
When he finally emerged, his face was expressionless.
Too expressionless.
“What are you going to do?”
“Nothing tonight.”
Good answer.
“Tomorrow?”
“Depends.”
Bad answer.
Aliyah folded her arms.
“Victor.”
“My wife identified the man responsible for threatening her.”
“She identified Nikolai as knowing why she was in danger.”
“He killed her.”
“We don't know that yet.”
Victor's pale eyes turned toward her.
“You heard the medical evidence.”
“I heard evidence Soren gave dangerous drugs.”
“On Nikolai's instruction.”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“Yes.”
Aliyah stepped closer.
“Because if you retaliate tonight and investigators discover tomorrow that Soren acted for money without direct orders, you can't undo what you did.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“You're asking me to show mercy.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I'm asking you to respect Elena.”
That stopped him.
Aliyah continued.
“She literally recorded herself telling people not to let you do this your family's way.”
Victor looked away.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he called his attorney.
Not his security chief.
His attorney.
“Contact federal prosecutors.”
Aliyah exhaled.
Victor noticed.
“You thought I wouldn't.”
“I wasn't certain.”
“Neither was I.”
Honest.
The evidence expanded quickly.
The charity ledger revealed millions routed into shell companies controlled through Nikolai.
Money intended for children's surgeries.
Housing for families.
Experimental treatments.
Nikolai had used the fund to conceal other family revenue.
Elena discovered it.
She prepared to expose him.
Soren owed Nikolai money from a private investment collapse.
Leverage.
Records showed payments to Soren beginning one week after Elena died.
Then came the darkest piece.
Traffic-camera footage, preserved in an old civil-insurance archive, showed Elena's vehicle being followed before the crash.
Vehicle registered to one of Nikolai's security contractors.
The crash itself remained difficult to prove intentional.
But conspiracy no longer looked theoretical.
Nikolai was arrested.
So was Soren.
Victor did not attend.
He sat at the Red Lion instead.
Table nine.
Onion soup.
No vodka.
Aliyah finished her shift and joined him.
“Nothing stronger?”
“My therapist says I drink when I want to stop thinking.”
She stared.
“You have a therapist?”
Victor looked offended.
“That reaction is unnecessary.”
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
Aliyah smiled.
“Good.”
“I regret telling you.”
“Also good.”
They sat quietly.
Then Victor pulled the handkerchief from his pocket.
Clean now.
He had finally washed Aliyah's blood from it himself.
The blue E remained.
“Elena bought this in Prague.”
Aliyah smiled.
“You remember?”
“Everything.”
“That sounds painful.”
“It is.”
He looked at her.
“For twelve years I thought remembering her meant refusing anything new.”
Aliyah understood what he was saying.
She did not rescue him from it.
“Maybe remembering isn't the same as freezing.”
Victor's eyes dropped.
“No.”
Then:
“May I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“When I caught you that night…”
She waited.
“I wanted to let go.”
Aliyah's throat tightened.
“But you didn't.”
“You were falling.”
“That seems practical.”
He almost smiled.
Then became serious.
“I haven't touched anyone without gloves in twelve years.”
“Anyone?”
“No.”
“What about handshakes?”
“Avoided.”
“Hugs?”
“No.”
“Doctors?”
“Necessary only.”
Aliyah looked at him.
“That isn't grief anymore.”
“I know.”
“It's trauma.”
“I know.”
“You don't need me to fix that.”
“I know.”
The third answer mattered most.
May you like
Victor folded the handkerchief.
“I'm learning.”
