Chapter 13 - The Visit to Cellblock C
The high-security federal penitentiary in iron-clad Imperial County stood surrounded by miles of barren desert,
its towering concrete walls wrapped in coiled razor wire under the blazing sun.
The air inside the visiting hall was thick with the smell of floor wax,
bleach,
and cold despair.
Victoria sat behind a thick partition of bulletproof glass,
wearing a crisp white silk blouse,
her arms folded gracefully across her chest.
The heavy iron door on the opposite side of the glass buzzed loudly,
and a guard escorted Christopher Lawson into the room.
Christopher looked completely unrecognizable compared to the arrogant CEO who had once bragged about his new family.
He wore an ill-fitting orange prison jumpsuit,
his head was shaved,
his face was gaunt,
and dark purple shadows hung beneath his hollow eyes.
His hands were bound with heavy steel cuffs,
clanking loudly against his waist chain as he shuffled toward the stool across from Victoria.
When he looked up and saw her sitting there,
his breath hitched,
and tears immediately welled up in his reddened eyes.
He picked up the black plastic telephone receiver with shaking hands,
pressing it against his ear as he stared at her face.
Victoria picked up her receiver,
her expression completely devoid of warmth or sympathy.
"Victoria..."
Christopher wept,
his voice trembling with profound emotion and shame.
"You came..."
"I thought..."
"I thought you would never look at me again..."
"I am not here out of kindness,
Christopher,"
Victoria cut in sharply,
her voice ringing through the receiver with icy precision.
"I am here because your foolishness has created one final problem that needs to be erased."
Christopher flinched as if she had struck him across the face,
leaning forward against the counter.
"I am so sorry,"
Christopher sobbed,
wiping his nose with the sleeve of his orange jumpsuit.
"Michelle manipulated me,"
"Raymond set me up,"
"I was a fool,
Victoria!"
"Every night I sit in this cell,"
"staring at the cold concrete walls,"
"remembering how good our life was before I destroyed everything."
"You were the best thing that ever happened to me,"
"and I threw you away for a lie!"
"Save your tears for your parole board,
Christopher,"
Victoria stated coldly,
unmoved by his pathetic display of remorse.
"Tell me about the contract you signed with Damien Cross two weeks before your arrest."
Christopher froze,
his crying stopping instantly as a look of intense fear crossed his face.
"Damien Cross?"
Christopher stammered,
his hands shaking violently against the counter.
"He promised to save me,"
"he said he would give me ten million dollars to pay off Michelle's debts and cover the Tucson clinic fees!"
"He made me sign a stack of emergency documents in his private limousine!"
"Where is the original physical copy of that contract?"
Victoria demanded,
her dark eyes locking onto his with terrifying intensity.
"Damien claimed he took the only physical copy,"
Christopher whimpered,
"but..."
"but I recorded the entire meeting on an encrypted spy pen in my pocket."
"I was scared he was going to blackmail me later,"
"so I kept the digital audio and video files locked in a private safe deposit box in San Diego."
Victoria leaned closer to the glass,
analyzing every tiny twitch in his facial expressions.
"Give me the safety deposit key and the authorization code,"
Victoria commanded firmly.
Christopher looked at her with a flicker of desperate hope in his hollow eyes.
"If I give you the key,"
Christopher begged,
reaching out toward the glass as if trying to touch her hand,
"will you help me,
Victoria?"
"Will you tell your lawyers to write a letter to the judge asking for a reduced sentence?"
"I can't survive five years in this place,"
"Victoria,
please!"
"I am begging you as your former husband!"
Victoria stared at him for three long,
agonizing seconds,
letting the silence weigh down upon his frail spirit.
"You signed away our marriage without a second thought,"
Victoria reminded him,
her voice steady and unforgiving.
"You bragged about having a son and a daughter with another woman,"
"and you told me I would end up alone with my spreadsheets."
"You do not get to ask me for mercy,
Christopher."
"If you do not give me that key right now,"
"my legal team will file additional corporate fraud charges against you tomorrow morning,"
"adding ten more years to your prison sentence."
Christopher collapsed against the counter,
a broken,
choking sob erupting from his chest as he realized he had zero leverage against the woman he had betrayed.
He weakly recited the safety deposit box number and the six-digit authorization code,
his voice barely audible over the phone line.
Victoria wrote down the information on a small notepad,
placed her receiver back on the cradle,
and stood up from her chair.
"Victoria,
wait!"
Christopher screamed through the glass,
banging his cuffed hands frantically against the bulletproof pane.
"Please don't leave me!"
"Victoria!"
Victoria did not pause,
did not look back,
and did not shed a single tear.
She walked out of Cellblock C into the bright desert sun,
May you like
leaving Christopher weeping hopelessly in his orange jumpsuit,
trapped forever in the cage of his own choices.
