Jonah held up his phone.

“Miles told us to make sure Santa put his hands on Derek. But I didn’t realize why until afterward.”

He displayed the original message.

Then another.

The second contained a schedule for releasing the edited clip.

The publication time had been selected before the confrontation even happened.

Underneath was a note.

Remove any footage showing our fighter initiating physical contact. Focus on the Santa employee’s response.

The board members stared at the screen.

Miles stood abruptly.

“That was just an editorial suggestion!”

Renee looked at him.

“Mr. Trent, sit down.”

Miles didn’t move.

“There’s context missing.”

Vincent calmly opened another document.

“We’re happy to submit the full conversation.”

Miles sat.

Graham stared at his son.

Derek stared back.

Neither spoke.

The last illusion had finally collapsed.

This wasn’t a Christmas promotion gone wrong.

It was an attempt to manufacture a public incident.

And the old man in the Santa costume had nearly lost his wife’s charity because of it.

Chapter 12: The Decision

The board adjourned for forty-five minutes.

Outside the conference room, reporters crowded the hallway.

Derek sat alone on a wooden bench.

His hands were clasped together.

For the first time in years, he didn’t care whether anybody recognized him.

Arthur emerged with Nora.

Derek stood immediately.

“Mr. Bell.”

Arthur stopped.

Nora moved slightly closer to her father.

Derek noticed.

He didn’t blame her.

“Can I talk to you?”

Arthur looked at him for a moment.

“Go ahead.”

Derek swallowed.

“I’m sorry.”

Arthur didn’t answer.

Derek continued.

“For the shove. The punches. The things I said. All of it.”

He looked toward the floor.

“I thought you were just some old guy who’d be afraid to stand up to me.”

Arthur watched him.

Derek’s voice cracked.

“And when you weren’t, I got angry.”

He looked up.

“I kept attacking because I couldn’t stand everybody seeing me lose.”

Arthur remained quiet.

Derek took a breath.

“I was wrong.”

For several seconds, neither spoke.

Then Arthur asked a question.

“Why did you want to frighten me?”

Derek looked confused.

“What?”

“Before you knew anything about me. Before I moved. Before I defended myself. Why did you want to make an old man afraid?”