Chapter 9 - Shadows Behind Bars
In the high-security holding facility upstate, the fluorescent lights buzzed with a harsh, unyielding hum.
Sienna Blake sat on the edge of a bolted steel cot in her gray jumpsuit, staring blankly at the bare concrete wall opposite her cell. Her hair was pulled back into a tight, messy knot, devoid of styling products or care. The designer clothes, the high society galas, the flashbulbs, and the million-dollar wedding dreams were all gone—reduced to a small plastic bin of personal effects sitting on a metal shelf outside her door.
A heavy metallic clank echoed down the tier as a guard approached her cell, unlocking the heavy door with a mechanical thud.
"Visitor for you, Blake," the guard said flatly, gesturing toward the secure partition booth down the hall.
Sienna didn't move for a long moment. Then, slowly, she stood up and walked down the corridor, her rubber prison sliders scraping against the concrete floor.
In the small glass-divided booth, sitting behind the acrylic panel with a telephone receiver in his hand, was Daniel Mercer. He looked equally worn down, his sharp business suits replaced by the same humiliating gray uniform, his hair graying rapidly at the temples.
Sienna picked up her receiver on the other side of the glass. Neither of them spoke for nearly a minute.
"They're offering a plea deal," Daniel said finally, his voice raspy and devoid of its old corporate confidence. "Twelve years if we cooperate fully and hand over the remaining access codes to the offshore trusts."
Sienna stared at him through the smudged glass, her amber eyes burning with a cold, impotent fury. "Twelve years? That's our entire life, Daniel. We built an empire—we were supposed to be untouchable."
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"We weren't untouchable, Sienna," Daniel laughed bitterly. "We were arrogant. We underestimated a mother, and we underestimated a man who loved his family more than his balance sheet."
Sienna slammed the receiver down onto its cradle, cutting off the connection, and walked back to her cell in absolute silence, leaving the ghost of her ambitions behind in the dark.
