Chapter 9 - Behind Iron Bars
Three months later.
The high-profile trial of Clara Higgins had come to an end. Exposed before the world, abandoned by her legal team, and faced with undeniable forensic and video evidence, Clara took a plea deal to avoid a maximum life sentence.
Inside the visiting room of the California Institution for Women, Clara sat behind a thick panel of bulletproof glass, wearing an orange jumpsuit. Her golden curls were gone, her skin was pale and hollow, and her manicured nails were short and bitten down to the quick.
The door on the visitor’s side opened.
Ethan walked in. He wore a simple black coat, looking healthy, rested, and composed. He sat down on the stool across from her, holding the telephone receiver to his ear.
Clara picked up her receiver with trembling hands.
"Why did you come?" she asked, her voice raspy and thin through the speaker. "To gloat?"
"No," Ethan answered calmly. "I came to tell you that the court finalized the complete recovery of the two million dollars you stole. Every cent of it has been placed into a trust fund for Lily and Noah’s education."
Clara let out a bitter, hollow laugh. "You destroyed me, Ethan."
"You destroyed yourself the moment you laid a finger on my daughter," Ethan corrected her, his voice devoid of anger, carrying only absolute truth. "You were sentenced to twenty-two years today, Clara. You will be fifty years old when you step out of these walls."
Clara squeezed her eyes shut, tears slipping down her gaunt cheeks.
"Lily doesn't ask about you anymore," Ethan continued softly. "She doesn't flinch when the lights go off. She doesn't hide when a glass breaks. She’s happy. She laughs again."
He leaned closer to the glass, looking into the hollow eyes of the woman who had brought so much nightmare into his home.
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"I spent two years feeling guilty for not being able to save Hannah from her illness," Ethan said. "But saving my children from you... that was the easiest choice of my life. You will never see them again. You will never hear their names again. You are dead to this family."
Ethan set the receiver down on the hook, stood up, and walked out of the room, leaving Clara sitting alone in the cold, echoing silence of the prison chamber.
