He didn’t answer quickly, which was answer enough.

I stood. “Robert.”

He rubbed his jaw. “There was a development deal twelve years ago. Downtown land, complicated permits, political favors. Nothing that can touch Chloe.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

His eyes met mine. “I buried things. Not violence — money, influence, favors. The kind of ugliness rich men call business.”

Evelyn closed her folder. “Then Victoria has leverage.”