Chapter 10 - Behind Bars and Broken Dreams
One year after the trial.
Inside the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, Minnesota, the afternoon air was cold and stale.
Gavin Pierce sat in the prison visitor room, wearing his faded orange jumpsuit. His skin was pale and sallow, his hands calloused from mandatory manual labor in the prison laundry unit. His former sharp, imposing figure had withered away completely.
A guard tapped on the heavy glass window. "Visitor for Pierce."
Gavin’s heart leaped into his throat. For twelve months, no one had visited him. His sister Bridget was serving a four-year sentence in another facility; Mason was in federal prison in Illinois; and Charlotte had refused all his letters while serving her six-year term.
Gavin rushed to the visitor chair, lifting the black plastic telephone receiver with trembling hands.
On the other side of the thick glass sat Marcus Thorne, his former defense attorney.
"Marcus!" Gavin gasped into the phone, his voice desperate. "Did you bring the appeal papers?! Has the Supreme Court reviewed my case?!"
Thorne sat down slowly, pulling a single legal notice from his briefcase. He looked at Gavin with a quiet, tired pity.
"The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected your final appeal this morning, Gavin," Thorne said through the receiver. "The eighteen-year sentence stands. There are no further legal remedies available."
Gavin’s hand shook so violently he almost dropped the phone. "No... no, that can't be! What about my equity in the old company?! Can't we sue Sabrina for taking the assets?!"
Thorne let out a long, heavy sigh. "Gavin... Miller Logistics just posted its quarterly earnings. The company is worth fourteen billion dollars today. Sabrina has funded thousands of scholarships, built women's shelters across three states, and was named Business Leader of the Year by the Governor yesterday."
Gavin stared through the glass, his eyes wild with grief, regret, and agony.
"She took everything..." Gavin whimpered, tears filling his eyes. "She took my company... my life... my future..."
"She didn't take anything that was yours, Gavin," Thorne said flatly, preparing to stand up. "You gave it all away the night you picked up that belt. You thought she was a mediocre woman with nothing. The truth is... she was the only reason you ever had anything in the first place."
May you like
Thorne hung up the receiver, picked up his briefcase, and walked out of the visitor room without looking back.
Gavin sat alone in his chair, holding the silent plastic telephone to his ear, staring at his own pale reflection in the thick glass, while the heavy iron prison doors locked shut behind him.
