CHAPTER 2 — The Secret Nobody Was Supposed to Know
Rumors spread through the prison faster than smoke.
Some claimed David had been part of a military special operations unit.
Others whispered he had once worked undercover inside maximum-security prisons.
One inmate insisted David used to train elite tactical teams.
Nobody knew the truth.
Victor refused to answer anyone.
Whenever another prisoner asked what had happened in the yard...
Victor simply replied,
"Forget it."
Those two words shocked everyone.
Victor Carter...
Walking away from a confrontation?
Impossible.
That evening, however, something even stranger happened.
David made his usual rounds through Cell Block C.
Instead of avoiding him...
Victor was waiting.
Standing perfectly still.
His arms crossed.
The entire block watched through the bars.
Everyone expected revenge.
Victor stepped forward.
The air became heavy.
David stopped.
Neither man spoke for several seconds.
Finally Victor asked,
"Where did you get that card?"
David looked at him calmly.
"It belonged to someone I respected."
Victor swallowed.
His jaw tightened.
"You knew him?"
David nodded once.
"I did."
Victor's voice became almost a whisper.
"I thought he was dead."
"So did everyone else."
Silence.
The prisoners couldn't hear the rest.
David quietly removed an old silver coin from his pocket.
He placed it in Victor's hand.
Victor stared at it.
His face turned pale.
His breathing became uneven.
His knees almost gave way.
One tattooed prisoner blinked in disbelief.
"Boss..."
"You okay?"
Victor ignored him.
His eyes remained fixed on the worn coin.
Scratched into its surface were only three words.
Finish what matters.
Victor closed his fist around it.
His voice cracked.
"I haven't seen this in twenty-four years."
David answered softly.
"It belonged to my father."
Victor looked up as if the world had stopped turning.
"What... did you say?"
"My father was Officer Michael Hayes."
Victor's eyes filled with emotions no inmate had ever witnessed.
Fear.
Regret.
And something even harder to believe...
Shame.
Because decades earlier...
Michael Hayes had been the only correctional officer who had ever treated Victor like a human being instead of a monster.
The officer had disappeared during a violent prison transfer.
Everyone believed he had been killed.
But David had spent his entire life searching for the truth.
And now...
He believed someone inside these walls knew exactly what had happened.
May you like
That someone...
Was Victor Carter.
