CHAPTER 16: The Message
When I told Victor, he didn’t yell or order extra guards. He just sat quiet for a long time, staring at his hands. “I thought we’d closed all the doors. But some people don’t want better. They just want to keep fighting the same war forever.”
“Then we show them there’s another way,” I said. “But we don’t let them hurt anyone first.”
Over the next three days, small incidents piled up—vandalism at the community center, threats sent to business owners who’d sided with Victor, tires slashed on cars belonging to hospital staff I’d worked with. It was deliberate, meant to unsettle us, to make us look weak.
Victor called a meeting of every manager, every captain, every ally we had. “They want fear. They want you to think nothing has changed. But everything has changed. We stand together now. If one of us is targeted, we all answer.”
The room nodded firm. No one looked away.
That night, we got a video sent to every phone in the organization—Cole standing in an empty lot, holding a torch. Step down, Victor. Or we burn every good thing you’ve ever touched.
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