Jace finally charged. He came in wide and heavy, just as Victor had predicted, swinging a looping right hand that telegraphed from a mile away. Victor slipped the punch with a subtle pivot of his head, stepped inside, and drove a short left hook into Jace’s floating ribs. The impact folded the bigger boy in half. Jace dropped to his knees, gasping, one arm wrapped tightly around his midsection. Victor stepped back, retrieved his cane, and planted it firmly on the concrete, taking the pressure off his throbbing left knee. He took a deep breath, tasting the metallic tang of blood in his own mouth from biting the inside of his cheek during the exertion. He turned his attention to Brad. The boy was completely paralyzed against the oak tree. His eyes were wide, darting from Kyle to Jace, and then back to the old man in the tweed coat. The smartphone lay forgotten on the concrete between them.
“Pick it up,” Victor said. His voice was terrifyingly calm. It wasn’t angry. It wasn’t breathless. It was completely void of emotion. Brad flinched, pressing himself harder against the rough bark of the tree. He shook his head frantically. “I said, pick it up,” Victor repeated, pointing the tip of his cane at the shattered phone. Brad scrambled forward on his hands and knees, terrified that if he stood up, the old man would break his jaw too. His fingers fumbled over the cracked glass. He scooped the phone up and scrambled backward, clutching it to his chest. “Turn the camera off,” Victor instructed. Brad desperately jabbed his thumb at the broken screen until the red blinking light finally vanished. He looked up at Victor, his bottom lip trembling. “Please,” Brad choked out, his voice cracking. “Please don’t hit me. We were just—we were just joking around. It was just a joke for a video.” Victor stared at the boy. The sheer, overwhelming ignorance of the statement settled heavily onto his shoulders. “A joke?” Victor muttered, looking down at Kyle. Kyle was beginning to stir. His fingers twitched. He let out a low, groggy moan, his eyelids fluttering. The system was rebooting, but the hard drive was badly scrambled. He weakly reached a hand up to his jaw, wincing as his fingers brushed the rapidly swelling skin beneath his ear. Jace had finally managed to draw a shallow, rattling breath. He stayed on his knees, one arm wrapped tightly around his ribs, staring at the concrete, thoroughly broken.