Chapter 5 - THE VISIT TO THE JAILHOUSE
🤫 BEYOND EVIL: She visited her stepmother in prison, but she didn't bring an attorney... She brought a secret that will change EVERYTHING! 🤫The visiting room at the maximum-security women's correctional facility was grey, cold, and smelled heavily of industrial bleach.
I sat behind the thick plexiglass partition, still wearing a sharp, tailored black suit this time. I had finally taken off the wedding dress, having placed it securely in a high-security vault at Noah's headquarters. It was no longer a symbol of my shame; it was a battle trophy.
The heavy steel door on the opposite side opened, and Celeste was led in by two guards.
The transformation was shocking. The woman who had stood beneath the chandeliers of Blackthorne Castle in a sixty-thousand-dollar designer gown was gone. Celeste was wearing a faded orange jumpsuit. Her blonde hair was greasy and unwashed, her face pale and lined with deep wrinkles of stress. Without her makeup and diamonds, she looked twenty years older.
She slammed into the metal chair across from me, grabbing the telephone receiver with a white-knuckled grip.
I picked up my phone.
"You miserable, vindictive little bitch," Celeste hissed into the receiver, her voice cracking with pure venom. "You think you've won? My lawyers are already filing for bail. The forgery charges won't stick! Julian will take the blame for the wire transfers!"
"Julian already confessed, Celeste," I said softly.
Celeste froze, her breath hitching. "What?"
"He signed a full confession two hours ago," I lied smoothly, watching her eyes widen. In reality, Julian was holding out, but Celeste didn't need to know that. "He told the district attorney that the digitalis poisoning was entirely your idea. He claimed you forced him into it by threatening to expose his gambling debts to my father."
"That lying piece of garbage!" Celeste screamed, her voice echoing off the concrete walls. "He was the one who bought the pills! He was the one who gave them to the nurse! I didn't do anything!"
"Good. Tell that to the grand jury," I said, leaning back in my chair. "But I didn't come here to talk about Julian, Celeste. I came here to give you an update on your assets."
I pulled a document from my briefcase and pressed it against the glass.
"As of 2:00 PM today, the Vance Global board has officially seized the Vance Estate. The house you spent ten years redecorating with my father’s money? Eviction notices have been served. Your personal bank accounts have been frozen by the federal government under the RICO Act. Your jewelry collection, your sports cars, your villa in the South of France—all of it is being auctioned off to pay back the forty-two million dollars you stole."
Celeste stared at the document, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "You... you can't leave me with nothing... I am your father's widow!"
"You are my father's murderer," I corrected her, my voice dropping to a whisper that cut through the line like a razor blade. "And you will die in this place, Celeste. But before you do, there’s something you should know. Something my father left in the ledger that you never managed to open."
Celeste pressed her face closer to the glass, her eyes manic. "What? What did he hide?"
"You always told me I was a disappointment," I said, a slow, triumphant smile spreading across my face. "You told me my father only tolerated me because of blood. But the ledger contained my mother's original trust fund details. My mother didn't come from money, Celeste. My father didn't build the Vance empire alone."
I leaned in, staring directly into her hollow eyes.
"My mother was the one who designed the original patents for our logistics software. She was the genius behind the entire corporate infrastructure. My father built the walls, but my mother built the engine. And in his will, my father wrote that I am the exact image of her—not just in face, but in mind."
Celeste shook her head, tears of rage finally spilling down her cheeks. "No... no, she was nothing! You are nothing!"
"I am the sole owner of everything you ever wanted, Celeste," I said. "And you are just a inmate with a number. Enjoy the orange. It really doesn't suit your skin tone."
I hung up the receiver.
May you like
Celeste began violently pounding on the plexiglass, screaming curses that I couldn't hear through the thick barrier. The guards immediately grabbed her arms, forcing her down and dragging her backward through the steel door as she thrashed and kicked.
I stood up, picked up my briefcase, and walked out into the sunlight.
