Chapter 6 - The Ultimate Ledger (The Ending)
Warden Arthur Vance was frantically packing a leather duffel bag with stacks of hundred-dollar bills and passports from his safe when his office door swung open.
He spun around, raising a small revolver, but Deacon Briggs was faster, throwing a heavy metal stool that clipped the Warden's wrist. The gun clattered to the floor.
Roman walked into the room, dragging Marcus by his collar. He threw the former DA onto the floor next to his brother.
"Ah, the Vance brothers," Roman said, sitting down in the Warden’s leather executive chair and propping his boots up on the desk. "Together at last."
"Please, Roman," the Warden begged, clutching his broken wrist. "Take the money in the safe. There's over two million in cash. Take it and go. We can arrange an escape for you tonight. A fake riot, a body switched in the morgue—whatever you want!"
Roman smiled, leaning forward. "You still don't understand, do you? I didn't fake my way into this prison to escape, Arthur. I came here to retire."
Suddenly, the lights in the office snapped back on. The computer screens on the wall illuminated, showing live news broadcasts from outside. The prison was surrounded by hundreds of federal vehicles, FBI tactical teams, and state police. Helipads cut through the night sky with searchlights.
The Warden gasped. "You called the feds? You'll go down too! You're a syndicate boss!"
"Am I?" Roman smiled, pulling a document from his inside pocket and tossing it onto the desk.
The Warden looked at it. It was a fully executed, federal witness immunity agreement, signed by the Director of the FBI and the Attorney General, dated three weeks before Roman entered Blackridge.
"The Midnight Syndicate wasn't destroyed by rival cartels, Arthur. I dismantled it myself," Roman explained, his voice chillingly calm. "I gave the government every route, every bank account, and every corrupt politician on my payroll. In exchange, I demanded one thing: absolute immunity, and a transfer to this specific prison as a low-level fraud convict for thirty days."
Marcus shook his head frantically. "Why? Why do all this if you had immunity?"
"Because if the FBI arrested you two, you would have used your connections to get a plea deal. You would have gone to a luxury federal facility, or skipped the country," Roman said, his eyes turning to ice. "I needed you here. In the dark. Where nobody could save you."
Roman stood up from the desk and walked toward the private exit elevator behind the Warden's chair.
"Deacon," Roman said without looking back.
"Yes, Mr. Calderone?" Deacon replied, stepping forward with his heavy iron pipe.
"The Warden and his brother are trying to escape during a tragic inmate riot. They resisted," Roman said coldly. "Clean up the office."
"With pleasure," Deacon grinned.
May you like
As the elevator doors began to close, Roman looked out the panoramic window one last time. Down at the front gates, the federal agents were breaching the facility to take control. Among the staff being evacuated, he saw Lena Marlow, safely wrapped in a blanket, holding her apron tight against her chest.
Roman smiled, adjusting the collar of his gray uniform. The debt was paid. The syndicate was gone. And the quiet new inmate had just inherited the entire world.
