Chapter 11 - The Visitor at Pelican Bay
Before hunting the monster outside, Lena needed the truth from the monster already caged.
The maximum-security visitation room at Pelican Bay State Prison smelled of industrial bleach and institutional despair. Behind the thick pane of bulletproof glass sat Victoria Sterling. The once-untouchable doyenne of Potomac society was stripped of her couture suits and diamonds, wearing standard-issue orange, her dyed blonde hair growing out gray and matted.
When Victoria saw Lena walk in—wearing an immaculate ivory tailored suit, walking with an effortless, confident stride—the older woman’s lips curled in pure hatred.
Lena sat down and lifted the heavy black telephone receiver. Victoria mirrored her movement.
"You look well, Lena," Victoria sneered, her voice raspy through the perforated steel speaker. "The limp is barely noticeable. Tell me, does your little gardener mind that your leg looks like a road map of surgical scars?"
"He doesn't mind at all," Lena said smoothly, leaning back. "He’s too busy building public parks on the land your family used to own."
Victoria slammed her palm against the glass, startling the guard standing behind her. "You think you won! You think your monstrous father erased us! Carter will strip that smirk off your face. He’s free, you ungrateful little whore, and he’s going to finish what he started."
"Carter is a rabid dog on a leash," Lena replied, her voice dropping into a register of icy authority that matched her father’s. "And you know who’s holding the chain. Who funded his breakout, Victoria?"
Victoria laughed—a wet, hysterical rattle. "You really don't know, do you? You think Carter married you because you were pretty? Because you were sweet?" Victoria leaned close to the glass, her yellowed teeth bared. "Your father traded you to us, Lena. In 2014, in Geneva, your father needed the Sterling family’s diplomatic pouches to smuggle three hundred million dollars out of Eastern Europe. Carter’s father demanded collateral. Elias offered *you*."
Lena’s heart stopped. The air in the interrogation room suddenly felt as thick as concrete.
May you like
"You’re lying," Lena said, though her fingers tightened until her knuckles cracked.
"Check the Swiss offshore registry under 'Project Penelope,'" Victoria whispered, her eyes dancing with malice. "Penelope was the wife who waited. You weren't a bride, darling. You were a hostage trade. And now that Elias broke the deal, the men who bought your father’s debt are coming to collect the interest."
