Chapter 21 - The Unseen Neighbor
Life inside a federal penitentiary operated on a strict, unyielding rhythm of silence, concrete, and routine. Derek spent his afternoons in the facility's damp laundry room, feeding coarse cotton linens through heavy industrial rollers while the low hum of machinery drowned out his thoughts. One afternoon, while sorting a batch of incoming staff uniforms, a crisp, pale blue shirt slipped from the basket. Stamped neatly on the collar tag in faded black ink was a laundry code from a downtown firm he used to manage accounts for. It was a jarring reminder of how small the world became when you stripped away your money; the very institutions he once exploited now processed him as waste.
