Chapter 2 - The Conqueror's Visit
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County lockup smelled of bleach, stale sweat, and despair. I sat on the hard metal stool in the visitation room, the thick plexiglass separating me from the world I used to rule. The heavy door hissed open, and Richard walked in. He didn't look like a man mourning a lost child. He looked like a king who had just conquered a new territory.
He wore a custom Tom Ford suit, the charcoal fabric perfectly tailored to his shoulders. He picked up the black plastic receiver, his lips curling into a slow, predatory smile.
"You look terrible, Margaret," he said.
I picked up my end of the phone, my knuckles turning white.
"Why, Richard? Why go to this extreme? If you wanted a divorce, you could have just asked."
He let out a low, dark chuckle.
"A divorce? And let you keep half of Kensington Medical Logistics? Let you keep the company your precious father built? Oh, darling, no. You were asking too many questions. You were looking into the offshore accounts. You wouldn't just sit in the mansion and play the good little socialite."
"So you framed me," I stated, my voice eerily calm. "You made up a baby. You made up a murder."
"Savannah is... pliable," Richard murmured, leaning closer to the glass. "She does what she’s told. She likes the shiny things I buy her. Speaking of which, your mother’s diamond tennis bracelet looks stunning on her wrist. The jury really loved that touch of sparkle when she wiped away her tears."
Bile rose in my throat, but I forced it down. I would not give him the satisfaction of a reaction.
"You're going to lose everything, Richard. When the truth comes out—"
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"The truth is whatever I pay for it to be," he interrupted, his eyes turning hard and cold. "Enjoy the concrete, Margaret. No one is going to listen to a convicted felon."
He hung up the phone, adjusted his expensive tie, and walked out without looking back. I placed the receiver on the hook, staring at the empty chair across from me. He thought prison would break my mind. He didn't know that before I married him, I was a senior forensic accountant. He just gave me three uninterrupted years to plan his total annihilation.
