Chapter 14: The Visitation Glass
The Alexandria Federal Detention Center was a stark, brutalist building of concrete and steel. Laura sat on a metal stool in the visitation room, staring through the thick, smudged plexiglass.
The heavy steel door on the other side buzzed loudly, and Julian was escorted in by a guard.
He looked terrible. The confident, immaculately groomed financial consultant was gone. His hair was greasy and overgrown, his face hollow, and the orange jumpsuit swallowed his previously tailored frame. When he saw Laura sitting there, a cruel, mocking smile spread across his cracked lips.
He picked up the heavy black phone on his side of the glass. Laura picked up hers.
"I wondered how long it would take," Julian said, his voice crackling through the receiver. "How's the cabin, Laura? Getting a little drafty?"
Laura didn't blink. "Who called me, Julian?"
Julian leaned back in his chair, feigning a yawn. "Probably a very angry man. I imagine he told you that you missed a spot. You always were terrible at looking at the bigger picture, Laura. You found my little book, and you thought you won."
"Apex Holdings," Laura said coldly.
Julian’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second, but he quickly recovered. "Ah. So you finally found the safety deposit box. Congratulations. But it doesn't matter. You don't have the account numbers, you don't have the biometric passcodes, and you don't know who the money belongs to. But they know who you are."
"Tell me how to access it."
Julian laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "Why would I do that? Right now, that money is the only thing keeping me alive in here. My clients know that if they kill me, they never get the passwords. And they know if they kill you, the money gets locked in probate court forever."
He leaned closer to the glass, his eyes manic. "Here's the deal, Laura. You go to the FBI. You tell them you fabricated the ledger. You say you hired someone to fake the recordings. You get my case thrown out on prosecutorial misconduct. When I walk out of these doors a free man, I'll access the Apex account, pay off my clients, and tell them to leave you alone."
"And if I don't?"
"Then they'll take Maya," Julian whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "They won't kill you, Laura. But they will take our daughter, and they will mail her to you piece by piece until you walk into that bank and drain the account for them."
Laura’s grip on the phone tightened until her knuckles turned white. A blinding, violent rage surged through her veins. But she didn't yell. She didn't cry.
Instead, she smiled. It was a terrible, beautiful smile that made Julian physically recoil.
"You're pathetic, Julian," Laura said softly. "You think you're the puppet master. But you're just a middleman sitting in a cage, terrified of the men you work for."
"I am the only one who can save you!" Julian shouted, banging his fist against the plexiglass.
"You don't understand, Julian," Laura replied, leaning closer to the glass. "I didn't come here to ask for your help. I came here to see your face when you realized you've lost everything. I don't need your passwords. I have your cloud backups. I have the biometric data you left on your old work phone. I know exactly how to get into Apex."
Julian’s face drained of all color. "You're lying."
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"Watch me," Laura whispered. "I'm going to take their fifteen million dollars. And when they come looking for whoever stole it, I'm going to make sure they find a digital paper trail leading directly back to you. I'm going to make your own clients execute you."
She slammed the phone down on the receiver, cutting off Julian's frantic, terrified screams, and walked away without looking back.
