Chapter 15
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The drive to the federal penitentiary took three hours. The landscape shifted from the bustling, vibrant streets of the city to the stark, isolated countryside, mirroring the cold reality of the place where Daniel was serving his sentence. Emily sat in the passenger seat, watching the trees blur past, her mind perfectly clear and entirely focused.
"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Emily?" Rachel asked from the driver's seat, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. "You haven't seen or spoken to him in years. You owe him nothing. I can go in there and talk to him instead."
"I know I owe him nothing," Emily replied calmly, turning to look at her friend. "But Daniel is a narcissist. If you go in there, he will play games. He will withhold information just to exercise control. If I go, he will see it as a victory. He will think he has finally forced me to need him, and his ego will make him careless. I am going to use his arrogance against him."
They arrived at the massive, concrete fortress. The razor wire glinted in the harsh afternoon sun. Emily walked through the extensive security checkpoints with a steady heartbeat. She felt no lingering terror, no old panic. She was completely at home in her own life, and this prison was just a building containing a man who no longer had any power over her.
She was led into a sterile visitation room divided by thick, reinforced glass. A few minutes later, a heavy metal door buzzed open, and Daniel was escorted in by a guard.
He wore a standard orange jumpsuit. He looked older, his hair thinning, but the manipulative, calculating spark in his eyes was exactly the same. He sat down and picked up the heavy black telephone receiver.
Emily sat down and picked up hers.
"Emily," Daniel said, his voice dripping with a sickeningly familiar warmth, as if they were old friends meeting for coffee. "I knew you would come to see me eventually. I read the news about your Senator Thorne problem. It looks like you're in a bit over your head."
"I am not here to catch up, Daniel," Emily said, her voice icy, professional, and completely detached. "I am here for a name. I need to know who runs Apex Financial. I know Charles Whitmore used their offshore networks for your schemes, and I know Thorne is using them now."
Daniel leaned back in his chair, a smug smile spreading across his face.
May you like
"You want my help?" he chuckled softly. "That’s fascinating. You ignored my letters for years. You locked me in here. Why on earth would I give you the key to destroying Harrison Thorne?"
"Because if you don't," Emily stated flatly, "I will ensure the parole board knows exactly how unrepentant you remain."
