Chapter 6 - The Visitor in the Cell
By the third day following the collapse of Sterling Global, the Manhattan Federal Detention Center had become the most watched building in New York.
The media had dubbed the scandal "The Gold Silk Fall," referring to the champagne-soaked gown I had worn on the night of my public humiliation.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, I walked through the heavy steel doors of the prison’s private visitation wing. I wore a long cashmere coat over my maternity dress, my posture relaxed and commanding.
Two armed federal guards bowed their heads as I approached the private glass meeting booth, unlocking the steel door for me.
Inside the room, sitting behind a stainless steel table, was Julian.
He looked completely unrecognizable.
The slick, handsome billionaire who had stood on the Plaza Hotel stage three days ago was gone. In his place sat a broken, pale man wearing a coarse orange prison jumpsuit. His dark hair was unwashed, dark purple bags hung heavily beneath his eyes, and his hands were locked in heavy steel handcuffs anchored to the table.
When the door opened and I walked in, Julian flinched violently, his eyes wild with a mixture of terror and desperate hope.
"Claire!" he rasped, his voice cracked and raw from crying. He tried to stand up, but the heavy chain on his handcuffs pulled him back down into his metal stool with a loud CLANG. "Claire, thank God! Thank God you came!"
I sat down smoothly in the chair across from him, crossing my legs, looking at him through the thick bulletproof glass.
"You look tired, Julian," I said softly.
"Claire, you have to help me!" Julian wept, pressing his shackled hands against the glass. "The lawyers say I’m looking at thirty to fifty years in federal supermax! They’re charging me with thirty-four counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering! They locked up Chloe in the women's wing—she’s testifying against me to get a plea deal!"
"I know," I said calmly. "I reviewed her deposition this morning. She gave up your hidden Swiss accounts in exchange for a reduced five-year sentence."
"She betrayed me!" Julian sobbed, tears streaming down his hollow cheeks. "Claire, I was wrong! I was manipulated by her! She told me you were trying to ruin me! She convinced me to spread those rumors about the baby!"
I looked at him with an icy, silent glare that made his voice die in his throat.
"Chloe didn't pour champagne over my head in front of five hundred people, Julian," I said, my voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper. "Chloe didn't call our unborn child a parasite on national television. You did that. All by yourself."
Julian swallowed hard, his entire body trembling violently. "Claire... I was out of my mind! The pressure of the IPO... the money... I lost control! Please, Claire! For the sake of our baby! You can't let your own child’s father rot in prison for fifty years!"
I leaned forward, looking directly into his desperate, weeping eyes.
"This child will bear my father’s name, Julian," I said softly. "Vance. They will never know your name. They will never see your face. And when they read about you in the history books, you will be nothing more than a cautionary tale about what happens to small men who mistake my father’s generosity for weakness."
I stood up slowly, adjusting my cashmere coat over my belly.
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"Claire! No! Don't leave me!" Julian screamed, slamming his handcuffed fists against the glass until the metal rattled against the concrete walls. "Claire! Please! I’ll sign the divorce papers! I’ll give you everything! Just talk to the prosecutors! Claire!"
I didn't turn back. I walked out of the visitation room, the steel door slamming shut behind me, sealing his screams into the dark corridor.
