Chapter 28 - A Visit to the Past
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A week later, Noah felt a lingering need for closure. The legal battles were over, the foundation was thriving, but there was one final chapter he needed to close personally. Accompanied by Marcus Vance and two discreet security guards, Noah drove to the federal maximum-security penitentiary located three hours upstate.
He sat in a stark, cold visitor’s room, separated by a thick pane of reinforced glass. The heavy metal door on the other side buzzed loudly, and Vanessa was escorted into the room by a female guard. She wore a bright orange jumpsuit, her hair unkempt, her face devoid of makeup and filled with an exhausting, hollow bitterness.
She sat down and picked up the heavy black telephone receiver. Noah picked up his.
"Come to gloat, little boy?" Vanessa sneered, though her voice lacked its former venom. It just sounded terribly tired.
"No," Noah replied calmly, his voice completely level. "I didn't come to gloat. I came to look at you one last time."
"Well, take a good look," she spat bitterly. "You won. You get the mansion, the money, and the glory. And I get to rot in this concrete box."
"You put yourself in that box, Vanessa," Noah said firmly, refusing to let her play the victim. "You had every opportunity to walk away. You had wealth, you had freedom. But your greed was a disease you refused to cure. You tried to burn my family to the ground, twice."
Vanessa glared at him through the smudged glass. "So why are you here?"
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"To tell you that you are entirely forgotten," Noah said, his words landing like heavy stones. "We aren't angry anymore. We aren't afraid of you. Tomorrow, I will go back to building a hospital that helps children walk again. And you will sit here, completely alone, with nothing but your hatred. I forgive you, Vanessa. Not for your sake, but for mine. Because I refuse to carry you in my heart for another second."
Noah hung up the receiver before she could respond. He stood up, picked up his crutches, and walked out of the cold room, leaving Vanessa completely alone in the silent, suffocating darkness she had created for herself.
