Chapter 8 - The Choice in the Ballroom)
The ballroom erupted.
People screamed.
Chairs crashed.
Glasses shattered.
Roman did not move.
Titan charged across polished marble.
Security officers shouted.
"Stand back!"
"Get down!"
Roman heard weapons being readied.
He remembered Emma's words.
Chaos.
That was the point.
Not the dog.
Not the attack.
Chaos.
Another electronic tone sounded.
Titan stumbled.
Then kept coming.
Roman opened his hands.
"Titan."
The dog did not slow.
Roman's security team moved into firing position.
Roman shouted.
"Nobody shoots!"
Twenty feet.
Fifteen.
Ten.
Then Emma ran into the ballroom.
She stepped directly between Roman and Titan.
Roman's heart stopped.
"Emma!"
She ignored him.
Titan was almost on top of her.
Emma dropped to one knee.
"Titan. Here."
The dog skidded.
His claws scraped against marble.
The ballroom fell silent.
Titan stopped less than three feet from Emma.
His whole body shook.
Emma did not reach for him.
She lowered her eyes.
"Good boy."
A chirp sounded.
Titan flinched.
He looked toward Roman.
Then Emma.
Then upward.
Emma heard it.
Not from the harness.
The sound came through the ballroom audio system.
She stood.
"Kill the speakers!"
Roman turned toward the control booth.
Elias was already moving.
The speakers went silent.
Titan collapsed against Emma.
Roman approached slowly.
This time the dog did not retreat.
Roman knelt.
Titan looked at him.
For several seconds nothing happened.
Then Titan moved his head forward.
He pressed his forehead against Roman's chest.
Roman closed his eyes.
His hand settled gently against Titan's shoulder.
The room remained silent.
Someone began recording.
Then every screen in the ballroom turned black.
A video appeared.
Victor Hale.
He was standing in an unknown room.
"Good evening, Roman."
Guests stared.
Roman rose.
Victor continued.
"If you're watching this, Titan failed."
Emma looked toward the control booth.
Elias shook his head.
He wasn't playing it.
Victor's recording continued.
"Which is unfortunate. But not unexpected."
Malcolm Voss moved toward an exit.
Emma saw him.
So did Grace.
Two investigators blocked his path.
Malcolm frowned.
"What is this?"
Grace did not answer.
On screen Victor smiled.
"You spent your entire life believing loyalty could be purchased. Salaries. Houses. Protection. Titles."
Roman watched without expression.
"You were wrong."
Victor stepped closer to the camera.
"Your sister understood that before you did."
Roman's face changed.
Emma looked at him.
Victor continued.
"Nora discovered Northbridge. She found the accounts. She found Blackwater."
A pause.
"But she never discovered who gave the first order."
Malcolm stopped moving.
Emma looked at him.
Roman did too.
Malcolm's face remained calm.
Too calm.
Victor smiled on the screen.
"Ask Malcolm."
The video ended.
Every person in the ballroom turned toward the chief financial officer.
Malcolm laughed once.
"This is absurd."
Roman walked toward him.
Grace stepped between them.
"Don't."
Roman stopped.
Malcolm adjusted his cuff.
"Victor is unstable. Everyone here knows that."
Roman spoke quietly.
"Do they?"
Malcolm looked around.
Directors.
Donors.
Press.
Guests.
Cameras.
Everything Victor had wanted to use against Roman was now pointed at Malcolm.
Grace said, "Mr. Voss, we need you to come with us."
Malcolm smiled.
"On what grounds?"
Grace lifted a folder.
"Financial conspiracy. Fraud. Obstruction. Animal cruelty. And we'll discuss Nora Calder after we verify the records recovered this morning."
For the first time Malcolm's expression cracked.
Only slightly.
But Roman saw it.
Malcolm looked at him.
"You think this ends with Victor?"
Roman said nothing.
Malcolm stepped closer to Grace.
"This company was dying under your family long before Nora started playing detective."
Roman's voice turned quiet.
"What happened to her?"
Malcolm looked at him.
"Ask Victor."
"Where is he?"
Malcolm smiled.
"If I knew, do you think I'd still be here?"
A crash sounded from the upper balcony.
Emma looked up.
A man disappeared through a service door.
Victor.
He had been watching the entire thing from above.
Elias ran for the stairs.
Roman turned toward Titan.
The dog was staring upward.
Not frightened now.
Focused.
Emma held his harness.
"No."
Roman looked at her.
"We're not using him to chase Victor."
Emma's grip tightened.
"He's already been used enough."
Roman nodded.
Elias and Grace's team pursued Victor.
They found the upper corridor empty.
A service elevator door stood open.
On the floor was another black remote.
And beside it lay a small silver object.
Roman picked it up.
A key.
He recognized it.
Nora's old house key.
Beacon House.
May you like
Victor was not running away.
He was leading Roman somewhere.
