Chapter 13 – Shadows in the Cell
That evening, across the state line at the Blackwood Maximum Security Facility, the cold reality of justice remained unbroken.
Arthur Carter sat at a bolted metal table in the visiting room, his orange jumpsuit hanging loosely over his emaciated frame. His once-immaculate silver hair was unkempt, his hands trembling with the early onset of tremors.
Across the plexiglass partition sat Derek, separated by wire mesh and thick acrylic. Prison had stripped the arrogant smirk from Derek’s face, leaving hollow cheeks and a dull, defeated stare.
"Your mother's foundation just received the governor's humanitarian award," Arthur rasped, his voice bitter and thin through the intercom phone. "Ethan controls everything now. Our name is completely gone from the registry."
Derek didn't pick up his receiver immediately. He stared through the glass at the old man who had taught him that cruelty was strength and that family was merely a tool for leverage.
"The name deserved to die, Dad," Derek said flatly into the handset.
Arthur’s eyes flared with a desperate, impotent fury. "You took a plea deal! You gave the feds Victoria's Zurich ledgers! You sold out your own blood!"
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"I spent twenty-five years watching you destroy Mom, and then you convinced me that kicking a pregnant woman down a flight of stairs was just 'protecting the business,'" Derek replied, his voice devoid of emotion. "Ethan didn't put us here, Dad. You built this cell for both of us, brick by brick."
Before Arthur could scream into the microphone, Derek hung up the receiver, stood up, and signaled the guard to escort him back to the cellblock, leaving his father pounding uselessly against the glass in solitary rage.
