Chapter 14 - The Prison VisitTwo weeks later, the gray concrete walls of upstate New York’s federal correctional facility loomed ominously beneath a heavy November drizzle.
Sarah sat in the stark visitor's booth, separated from the inmate seating area by a thick sheet of reinforced safety glass. She wore a tailored charcoal wool coat, her expression completely unreadable as she waited.
The heavy steel door at the far end of the room creaked open.
Michael shuffled in, wearing standard orange prison scrubs. He had lost significant weight; his hair was cropped close to his scalp, and deep, purple-black circles bruised the skin beneath his hollow eyes. He looked nothing like the arrogant corporate executive who had sneered at her in the Park Hyatt suite a year ago.
Michael sat down on the metal stool on the other side of the glass and picked up the heavy plastic telephone receiver with a shaking hand.
Sarah slowly picked up her own receiver, keeping her eyes locked onto his.
"Sarah..." Michael rasped, his voice sounding hollow and broken through the audio speaker. "How... how did you find out about the Cayman accounts? My mother... did my mother tell you?"
"Your mother is currently packing her bags to move into a tiny two-bedroom apartment in Queens, Michael," Sarah said, her voice completely devoid of emotion. "Her estate was seized by the federal marshals this morning under your shared RICO indictment."
Michael dropped his head into his free hand, letting out a ragged, desperate sob that echoed faintly against the partition. "I ruined everything. I had a wonderful wife, a baby on the way, a career... and I threw it all away for Lily."
"Don't blame Lily," Sarah said sharply, cutting off his self-pity. "Lily was just an accomplice to your own greed. You made every single choice, Michael. You built this prison long before you ever set foot in this building."
Michael looked up, his eyes bloodshot and pleading. "Is there... is there any way back? Can we talk about a settlement? I'll sign away all parental rights, I'll do whatever you want—just please tell your father to stop pushing for the maximum federal sentence!"
Sarah stood up slowly, adjusting her coat, her eyes cold as winter ice.
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"There is no way back, Michael. Maya and I have built an entirely new life, far away from your toxicity. Enjoy your stay."
She hung up the receiver without looking back, leaving him screaming soundlessly behind the glass.
