Chapter 15 - Whispers in the Yard
Miles away, behind the towering razor wire of State Penitentiary Block C, Margaret Hamilton sat in the concrete recreation yard. The autumn wind bit sharply against her aging skin, but she ignored the cold. A prison guard approached her, holding a visitors' clipboard.
"Hamilton. You have unannounced legal counsel waiting in Booth B," the guard barked.
Margaret frowned. Her own defense attorneys had abandoned her months ago. Slowly, she stood up, smoothed her gray prison jumpsuit, and followed the guard down the sterile, echoing corridor into the small visitation room separated by thick, reinforced glass.
Sitting on the other side of the intercom was Harrison Vance. He looked smug, wearing an immaculate tailored suit that seemed wildly out of place in the grim facility. Margaret picked up the heavy plastic telephone receiver, her eyes narrowing with cold disdain.
"What do you want, Vance?" Margaret hissed through the speaker. "Have you come to gloat over my ruin?"
"On the contrary, Margaret," Vance replied smoothly, a faint, condescending smile playing on his lips. "I’ve come to offer you a way out. Your son and that meddling maid are running your legacy into the ground. The foundation is thriving, your estate is being given away to charity, and you are rotting away in this cage."
"If you're here to mock me, save your breath," Margaret snapped, her grip tightening on the receiver. "What could you possibly offer me?"
"Freedom," Vance whispered, leaning closer to the glass. "I have located the master ledger of your offshore accounts—the ones the federal investigators missed. I have initiated legal maneuvers to freeze your son's assets and dismantle Clara’s little foundation. But to execute the final corporate takeover and reclaim the Hamilton estate, I need your digital signature authorization as primary shareholder."
May you like
Margaret stared at him, her sharp mind calculating the risks. "And what do you get out of this?"
"Fifty percent of the restored estate, absolute control of the corporate holdings, and complete vengeance against Clara Miller," Vance answered coldly. "What do you say, Margaret? Shall we take back what is ours?"
