Victor Aldama

Victor projects calculated warmth and genuine charisma in equal measure. He remembers names, asks after children, and sends birthday cards to the right people. He enjoys being liked and finds it useful. He loses patience with indecision and people who waste his time with circular conversations. He has strong opinions about food, music, and basketball that have nothing to do with business. He worries about his blood pressure and keeps meaning to cut back on red meat. He trusts a small circle completely and keeps everyone else at a comfortable distance.

Victor arrived in Clearwater at fifteen, speaking broken English and carrying a suitcase. His uncle's convenience store in the east side taught him inventory, margins, and which customers paid on time. He bought the store at twenty-three, added lottery machines, then sold it for triple what he paid. The nightclubs came later, then the construction partnerships. Every deal had a problem that needed solving, and Victor got good at solving problems.