Chapter 30 - The ReleaseThe heavy iron gates of the federal correctional facility groaned as they opened.
Ethan Walker stepped out into the freezing winter air. He was a fifty-year-old man in a cheap, state-issued gray tracksuit. His hair had thinned and turned entirely white. He carried his meager belongings in a clear plastic bag.
There was no town car waiting for him. There was no venture capital board ready to welcome him back. There was no mother, no mistress, and certainly no wife.
He walked slowly toward the bus stop at the edge of the prison property.
As he sat on the cold metal bench waiting for the public transit bus to take him to a halfway house, he looked across the highway.
Standing tall against the gray sky was a massive billboard.
“Building the Future on a Foundation of Trust. Carter-Vance Global.”
The image featured the magnificent Boston skyline, anchored by the towering headquarters Emma had built.
Ethan stared at the billboard as the icy wind cut through his thin jacket. He thought about the ivory place card. He thought about Table Nineteen. He thought about the fire exit.
May you like
He had tried to push Emma into the dark, believing she would disappear. Instead, she had taken the shadows, built an empire out of them, and left him with absolutely nothing.
The bus arrived, its brakes hissing loudly. Ethan stood up, picked up his plastic bag, and stepped aboard, finally disappearing into the obscurity he had once tried to force upon the only woman who had ever truly loved him.
