Chapter 7 - THE FINAL PLEA
Two weeks later,
I received a request for a meeting.
Not from a lawyer,
but from Daniel himself.
He was being held in a more permanent facility now,
awaiting trial.
My father advised me not to go.
“He’s looking for a way to manipulate you,
Emily.”
“He’s a cornered animal.”
“I know,”
I said.
“But I need to see him.”
“I need to see the man who thought I was a fool.”
I met him in a small visiting room.
The glass between us was scratched and cloudy.
Daniel looked ten years older.
His hair was thinning,
and his skin had a gray,
unhealthy tint.
“Emily,”
he said,
his voice a mere whisper.
“I’m sorry.”
I sat down and looked at him,
really looked at him.
I didn't feel the rage I expected.
I felt...
nothing.
He was just a stranger who happened to know my secrets.
“You’re not sorry you did it,”
I said.
“You’re sorry you got caught.”
“You’re sorry the waiter told you no.”
Daniel pressed his hands against the glass.
“I can help you,”
he urged.
“I can show you how to recover the funds faster.”
“I can give you the passwords to the encrypted servers.”
“Just... talk to the DA.”
“Tell them we’ve reached an agreement.”
“Tell them it was a marital misunderstanding.”
I leaned in closer,
my breath fogging the glass.
“It wasn't a misunderstanding,
Daniel.”
“It was a betrayal.”
“You stole from people who trusted you.”
“You stole from me.”
“I already have the passwords,”
I added.
“Your ledger was very thorough.”
Daniel’s face crumbled.
The last bit of hope left his eyes,
leaving behind a hollow void.
“Why did you do it?”
I asked,
a genuine curiosity finally surfacing.
“We had everything.”
“We had a good life.”
“It wasn't enough,”
he confessed,
dropping his gaze.
“I wanted to be the one people looked at.”
“In every room we entered,
they looked at you.”
“They admired you.”
“I was just the husband.”
“I wanted my own empire.”
“Even if it was built on yours.”
“You could have built your own,”
I said.
“But that would have required work.”
“And you always preferred the shortcut.”
I stood up to leave.
“Wait!”
he shouted,
the guards stepping forward.
“What about Vanessa?”
I paused at the door.
“She’s been indicted as a co-conspirator,”
I told him.
“She’s currently trying to trade information on you for a lighter sentence.”
“She never loved you,
Daniel.”
“She loved the black card.”
“And just like the card,”
“her loyalty was declined.”
I walked out of the prison and into the bright,
unfiltered sunlight.
The air felt different—cleaner,
somehow.
I took a deep breath and headed toward my car.
The man I had loved was gone,
May you like
replaced by a ghost in a jumpsuit.
But the woman I was meant to be was finally standing in the sun.
