Chapter 12 - The Offer
Victor appeared at Nora's apartment on Sunday afternoon wearing a gray sweater instead of a suit. He carried a folder, no bodyguards, and an expression meant to suggest a family visit.
Ben opened the door only far enough to speak through it. “No.”
“I've got a proposal.”
“You've got our truck.”
Victor lifted the folder. “I can get it released tomorrow. Full condition, no storage fees. I can also talk to the co-op landlord.”
Nora came into the hall. “And what do you want?”
“An acknowledgment that the misunderstanding was settled amicably. Nothing dramatic. Your name on a short statement. It says you've always been treated fairly by the company.”
Ben almost laughed. “You have got to be kidding.”
Victor addressed Nora as if Ben weren't there. “I know you hate the business. Fine. But you can protect your kid and keep your little project. Or you can keep doing this performance where refusing me proves how independent you are.”
Nora saw Rosie peering from the hallway behind Ben. She stepped in front of her.
“Go finish your puzzle, please.”
“Is he taking Captain Sunday?”
“No, baby.”
Victor heard. He looked at the floor. “I didn't know Malik had done that.”
“You gave the order to clear the doorway,” Nora said.
“To keep her away from a place where she shouldn't have been.”
“You could've told me she was waiting.”
Victor straightened the folder's edge against his palm. It was a habit Nora remembered from childhood: when he had lied to their mother, he used to square the corners of homework papers until they bent.
“I wasn't trying to hurt her,” he said.
“But you did. And you still want me to sign a lie to make it go away.”
His face tightened. “Dad's been feeding you a story. He didn't mind how we operated until you came back asking for things.”
Nora held the door. “Then he has to answer for that too.”
Victor glanced at Rosie, then at Ben. For a second he looked like the older brother who used to carry Nora's school bag when she sprained her wrist. The look passed.
“If you make this public,” he said, “there'll be people who lose jobs who never did anything to you.”
“That's a reason to be careful,” Ben answered. “Not a reason to lie.”
Nora closed the door, but Victor's warning followed them into dinner.
Later, she asked Ben, “What if he's right about the employees?”
Ben scraped the last rice from the pan. “Then we make sure we're not using them the way he used us.”
May you like
Nora looked toward Rosie's bedroom. She would have to decide whether to pursue a fight that might hurt people she didn't know.
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