Chapter 17 - Blood on the Cellblock Floor
At ten o'clock that morning, five black cars pulled up to the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand.
A throng of British journalists and photographers mobbed the stone steps, flashing their cameras like lightning.
I stepped out into the blinding light, head held high, radiating absolute composure.
Beside me walked Dominic and a team of six senior barristers carrying heavy leather briefcases.
Across the grand hall, Lady Beatrice Vance was already holding court before a microphone.
She was playing the role of the dignified, betrayed aristocratic creditor to perfection.
"The Alden family has overextended its debt to criminal proportions," Beatrice declared loudly to the press.
"Today, British justice will restore our sovereign assets to their rightful stewards."
I walked straight toward her, my heels clicking sharply against the cold marble floor.
The reporters parted instantly, sensing the collision of two titans.
Beatrice turned toward me, a smug, venomous smile curling her lips.
"You came to witness your surrender, child?" she mocked in a low whisper.
Before I could open my mouth to answer, Dominic’s phone vibrated violently against his hip.
He answered it, listened for five seconds, and his face drained of all color.
Dominic stepped forward, leaning close to my ear.
"Vivian," he whispered, his voice trembling with genuine shock.
"Danbury Federal Penitentiary just called."
"Camden was ambushed in the showers twenty minutes ago."
"He was stabbed four times with an improvised shank."
The room seemed to spin on its axis.
"Is he alive?" I demanded, staring straight through Beatrice’s smug face.
"He is in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Yale New Haven Hospital," Dominic replied.
"The warden said Camden fought off the second attacker long enough to leave one final message."
"He carved five numbers into his cell wall."
I looked directly into Beatrice’s eyes.
Her arrogant smile vanished the moment she saw Dominic whispering to me.
Her fingers on the gold cane tightened until her knuckles turned snow-white.
May you like
She didn't know Camden had survived.
And she was terrified of what he had carved into that concrete wall.
