Chapter 7 - The Jailhouse Visit
Three weeks later.
The visitation room at the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center was stark, smelling of industrial disinfectant and stale air.
I sat behind the thick bulletproof glass window, holding the black plastic intercom receiver.
On the other side of the glass sat Corrine.
Twenty-one days in county lockup had stripped away every lingering trace of her high-society vanity. Her un-dyed gray roots were showing, her skin was gray and wrinkled, and her hands trembled as she picked up her receiver.
"Thane..." Corrine whispered, her voice rasping against the speaker. "Look at me... Look at what you're doing to your own mother..."
"I didn't do this to you, Corrine," I said through the phone, my voice completely smooth. "You chose to walk into my house with a sledgehammer."
"It was Sloan's idea!" Corrine blurted out instantly, her instincts driving her to throw her own daughter under the bus to save herself. "She told me you had millions in cash in that vault! She said Alora was planning to divorce you and take everything! I only went there to protect your interest, Thane! I was protecting you!"
I let out a low, dry laugh that made her shiver.
"You really never change, do you?" I observed. "Even in a orange jumpsuit, you're still trying to manipulate everyone around you."
"Thane, please," Corrine whimpered, pressing her palms against the thick glass. "Sloan is losing her mind in here. The other inmates... they know what we did. They treat us like monsters. The food is cold, the beds are iron... I can't survive a fifteen-year sentence, Thane! I will die in here!"
"Then you should have thought about that before you pulled my wife's hair," I told her coldly.
"What do you want?!" Corrine suddenly snapped, her face twisting back into her familiar, ugly rage. "What do you want from me, you ungrateful monster?! I raised you! I put you through private school! You owe your entire life to me!"
I leaned closer to the glass, looking straight into her wild, frantic eyes.
"You raised me to be cold," I reminded her softly. "You raised me to calculate risks, eliminate weaknesses, and show no mercy to those who try to destroy what is mine. You spent thirty years teaching me how to be a ruthless businessman."
Corrine stared at me, her mouth open, her breath fogging up the glass.
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"Congratulations, Corrine," I whispered. "Your student has graduated."
I hung up the plastic receiver, stood up from the stool, and walked out of the visitation room, leaving her banging frantically against the glass, her silent screams echoing off the concrete walls.
