Chapter 18 - Through the Glass
The static on the secure telephone receiver hummed softly between us as my father’s words hung in the sterile air of the maximum-security visiting booth.
“I didn't destroy anything, Dad,” I replied, my voice calm, steady, and entirely devoid of the trembling fear that had defined every conversation we ever had. “I just stopped letting you hide what you built.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened. A flicker of the old, dangerous tyrant flashed behind his bloodshot eyes before collapsing back into profound despair. “You were my daughter. You owed me loyalty. Family is supposed to protect family, no matter what happens behind closed doors.”
“Family isn't a license to terrorize, abuse, and silence people,” I said, leaning slightly closer to the glass partition. “For seventeen years, you made me believe I was alone, that nobody would ever believe me, and that your power was absolute. But you made one fatal mistake.”
Daniel stared at me through the glass, his brow furrowed in bitter confusion. “What mistake?”
“You underestimated how much fight a person has left when they have nothing left to lose,” I answered clearly. “You thought silence was your greatest weapon. But every time you broke a door, every time you raised your hand, and every time you told me to keep my mouth shut... I recorded it. I documented it. And now, the whole world knows exactly who you really are.”
Daniel slammed his open palm against the thick glass divider, a pathetic flash of his former rage. The guards on either side of his partition instantly stepped forward, hands resting on their tasers, but he slumped back down into his metal chair, defeated by his own realization.
“They’re going to bury me under the prison, Emma,” Daniel muttered, staring down at his cuffed hands resting on the stainless-steel counter. “There’s no way out for me anymore.”
“No,” I agreed quietly. “There isn't. Just like there was no way out for Clara Sterling twenty-two years ago when you murdered her and hid her in that warehouse. But unlike her, you get to sit in a cage and think about what you did for the rest of your life.”
Daniel didn't answer. He didn't look up again. When the guard tapped him on the shoulder to signal the end of the visit, he stood up obediently, a broken man shuffling back into the dark corridors of maximum security without a single backward glance.
I placed my receiver back on its cradle, took a deep, steady breath of clean air, and walked out of the visiting booth into the bright sunlight waiting outside the federal facility.
Mara Jenkins and Sarah Vance were waiting by the curb in a sleek sedan, holding the car door open for me.
“How did it go?” Mara asked as I slid into the backseat.
“It’s over,” I said, looking out the window as the prison gates closed behind us with a heavy, final clang. “He knows he lost.”
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“Good,” Sarah smiled, shifting the car into drive. “Because now it’s time to talk about your future. College applications reopen next week, and you have a full scholarship waiting for you across the country.”
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