Chapter 5 - THE PRISON CONFRONTATIONTwo weeks later, the holding facility in upstate New York was cold, gray, and smelled perpetually of bleach and despair.
When the heavy steel door buzzed open, Julian and Celia sat behind the reinforced glass partition of the visitation booth. Their custom Italian suits were gone, replaced by coarse, bright orange jumpsuits. Their hair was unwashed, and the arrogant authority that had defined their lives had completely shattered.
When the inner door opened and I walked into the booth on my own two feet, leaning slightly on my cane, Julian leaped to his feet with a manic gasp.
He slammed his cuffed hands against the thick glass.
"Mother!" Julian shrieked, his voice muffled by the acoustic barrier. He grabbed the wall phone, and a second later, my handset buzzed.
I picked it up slowly, holding his desperate, bloodshot gaze through the glass.
"Drop the charges!" Julian sobbed into his receiver, spittle flying against the partition. "We're your blood! We made a mistake! Please, let us out of here!"
"You didn't make a mistake, Julian. A mistake is forgetting where you left your keys," I said, my voice dangerously calm. "Poisoning my medicine and cutting my brake lines is premeditated murder."
Celia grabbed the phone next to him, her face twisted in hysterical rage. "You selfish old bitch! You tricked us! You let us think you were dead just to trap us!"
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"I gave you every chance to be better," I replied softly. "Your father and I built Voss Meridian with honesty, hard work, and respect for others. You took our success and turned it into greed and cruelty. Now, you reap what you sowed."
I hung up the handset, ignoring their frantic, muffled screams, and turned away from the glass.
