Chapter 8 - THE EMPIRE FALLS
A month later,
the dust had finally begun to settle.
Parker & Associates had filed for bankruptcy,
the name "Parker" now synonymous with greed and corruption.
The board members had all resigned in disgrace.
Levi was awaiting trial in a county jail,
his lawyers unable to secure bail due to the flight risk posed by his offshore accounts.
I was living in a small apartment downtown,
near my office.
My coworkers had been incredibly supportive,
though the "pity looks" took some getting used to.
I was no longer "Mrs. Parker."
I was Hannah Miller again.
One afternoon,
Margot called me.
“He wants to see you,” she said.
“Who?”
“Levi. He’s asking for you to visit him before the sentencing.”
“I have nothing to say to him, Margot.”
“He says he has something you need to hear. About the money.”
I hesitated.
The auditor in me couldn't let it go.
Was there still a discrepancy?
I went to the jail the following day.
The visiting room was cold and smelled of floor wax and despair.
Levi sat behind the glass,
wearing an orange jumpsuit that made his skin look sallow.
He looked like a ghost of the man I had married.
“You came,” he said,
his voice cracking.
“I’m here for the money, Levi. What’s left?”
He laughed,
a hollow,
hacking sound.
“There is no money, Hannah. The feds took it all. The Caymans, the shell companies... gone.”
“Then why am I here?”
He leaned closer to the glass,
his eyes searching mine.
“I wanted to know... why didn’t you just walk away? Like I asked?”
“Because you didn’t just break our marriage, Levi. You broke the law.”
“I did it for us,” he whispered.
“I wanted to give you the world.”
“You didn't give me the world, Levi. You gave me a cage made of stolen gold.”
He looked down at his shackled hands.
“Claire is gone. She’s in witness protection or something. She never loved me.”
“I know,” I said.
“She loved the money. Just like you did.”
“I loved you once,” he said,
looking up at me with a desperate hope.
“No,” I said,
standing up.
“You loved the reflection of yourself in my eyes. You loved that I made you look like a good man.”
I turned to leave,
feeling the finality of the moment.
“Hannah!” he called out.
“What happens now?”
I stopped at the door and looked back.
“Now,” I said,
“I walk away.”
I walked out of the jail and into the cool afternoon.
I felt light,
as if a heavy shroud had been lifted from my shoulders.
The story of Levi and Hannah Parker was over.
May you like
The audit was complete.
The books were closed.
