Chapter 3 - TOMMY DIDN’T CARE THAT VICTOR RUSSO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE TERRIFYING
Victor met Tommy by accident.
Mostly.
Chloe would later accuse him of manufacturing the accident.
She was probably right.
She returned to work the following Monday.
At four in the afternoon, Mrs. Gable found her in the service hallway arguing quietly on the phone.
“No.”
Pause.
“Tommy, stay there.”
Pause.
“I’m working.”
Pause.
“What do you mean the bus never came?”
Victor walked past.
Chloe turned away.
Too late.
“Problem?”
“No.”
Mrs. Gable answered for her.
“Her brother is stranded at dialysis.”
Chloe glared.
Traitor.
Victor took out his phone.
“No.”
Chloe pointed at him.
“Do not.”
He stopped.
Interesting.
Nobody pointed at Victor Russo.
“Do not what?”
“Send a black SUV like he’s being collected by federal agents.”
Mrs. Gable coughed.
Victor almost smiled.
“What do you suggest?”
“I’m taking a cab.”
“It’s snowing.”
“I’ve seen snow.”
“You live in Chicago.”
“Exactly.”
Then Tommy called again.
His voice carried through the phone.
“Chloe, I’m fine. This weird guy in a suit says he can drive me.”
Victor’s face went blank.
Chloe froze.
“What weird guy?”
One of Victor’s security drivers had already been at the hospital.
Routine.
Victor had asked him that morning to check the facility entrance.
Chloe stared at Victor.
“You did it anyway.”
“I prepared.”
“You are impossible.”
Tommy’s voice:
“Is that your scary boss?”
Victor held out his hand.
Chloe stared.
“No.”
Tommy:
“Put me on speaker.”
Absolutely not.
Chloe did.
Victor said:
“Hello.”
Tommy answered:
“You don’t sound scary.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
Victor looked almost offended.
“I can correct that.”
“Chloe says you’re dramatic.”
“I have never said that.”
“You called his house a villain mansion.”
Mrs. Gable turned away.
Her shoulders were shaking.
Victor stared at Chloe.
“Villain mansion?”
She looked innocent.
“The west turret is unnecessary.”
There was no turret.
Almost.
Tommy accepted the ride.
Under protest from Chloe.
When he arrived at the estate, he was thin, pale, and wearing a Bulls hoodie three sizes too large.
Victor expected fear.
Tommy looked around the foyer.
“Wow.”
Victor nodded.
“Yeah.”
“How many bathrooms?”
Victor frowned.
“I don’t know.”
Tommy looked at Chloe.
“He doesn’t know how many bathrooms are in his own house.”
“Rich-people problem.”
Victor decided he liked neither Bennett sibling.
Then Tommy asked:
“Are you mafia?”
Chloe nearly dropped a tray.
“Tommy!”
Victor looked at him.
“What do you think?”
Tommy considered.
“You have the face.”
“What face?”
“The one where people apologize before you say anything.”
Victor almost laughed.
Chloe was horrified.
“Please stop talking.”
Tommy grinned.
It was the first time Victor saw what the boy might have looked like before illness.
Normal.
Fifteen.
Annoying.
Good.
Then Tommy noticed a chessboard in the library.
“You play?”
“Yes.”
“Badly?”
Victor stared.
Chloe whispered:
“Tommy.”
“I’m asking.”
Victor sat.
“Play.”
Tommy did.
He lost in twelve minutes.
Demanded a rematch.
Lost again.
Then beat Victor on the third game because Victor became distracted by a phone call.
Tommy celebrated as if he had conquered Rome.
“You cheated.”
“No.”
“You moved while I was talking.”
“That’s called playing.”
Victor looked at Chloe.
“Take him home.”
She laughed.
That evening, after they left, Victor stood alone in the library staring at the chessboard.
The house seemed too quiet again.
He hated that.
Then his compliance director called.
Northstar Renal Supply had an unusual contract.
Hospital billing included a “care coordination surcharge” routed through another entity.
Aster Patient Services.
Who owned Aster?
A Bellweather family trust.
The surcharge appeared in patient account structures even where the hospital itself questioned value.
Could that explain Tommy’s bill?
Maybe partly.
Could it be improper?
Potentially.
Victor asked:
“Who approved the arrangement?”
His compliance director hesitated.
“St. Catherine procurement.”
“Who introduced Northstar?”
Silence.
Then:
“Russo Health Logistics.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Russo Health Logistics was not directly run by him.
It was managed by his cousin.
Marco Russo.
And suddenly the investigation was no longer about a hospital vendor.
May you like
It was inside Victor’s own family.
---
Related Stories
