Chapter 8
Victor tried to change the story.
That was what men like him did when facts stopped obeying.
“This is a family misunderstanding,” he said.
The colonel’s face remained unreadable.
Elena almost smiled.
Family misunderstanding.
A phrase broad enough to hide theft, pressure, deception, and betrayal if spoken confidently.
Mark looked at Victor with less loyalty now.
“Mr. Pike, you represented that all necessary family authority had been secured.”
“It was.”
Elena lifted one eyebrow.
Victor pointed at her again, but his hand lacked the same force.
“She is being vindictive. She never liked me.”
“No,” Elena said. “I never trusted you.”
Martha whispered, “Elena, please.”
Elena’s eyes moved to her mother.
“Please what? Let him sell the last place Dad left me? Let Emily take pictures in Hawaii while his porch becomes someone else’s property?”
Emily snapped, “You act like you’re the only one who lost things.”
Elena looked at her stepsister.
“What did you lose?”
Emily’s mouth opened.
No answer came.
The bright-pink suitcase suddenly looked childish.
Victor stepped toward the desk again.
“I want my own attorney.”
The colonel nodded once.
“That would be wise.”
Victor blinked.
He had expected resistance.
Instead, he was being told the situation had become serious enough for counsel.
That frightened him more.
Mark turned the monitor back toward himself.
“I’m placing an internal hold on my transaction file.”
Victor’s head whipped around.
“You can’t do that.”
“I have to.”
The office seemed to shrink around Victor.
The American flag stood still near the window.
Military duffel bags rested by the wall.
The overturned coffee cup darkened a stack of papers nobody touched.
Elena remained standing, disciplined and quiet.
She had not won.
Not yet.
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But Victor had stopped pretending victory was already his.
Read the full story 👉 Victor tried to call it a misunderstanding, but the broker began protecting himself instead of protecting the sale.
