Chapter 20 - A Visitor in the Visiting Room
A week later, I found myself sitting on a hard plastic chair inside the visiting room of the county detention facility.
A thick pane of reinforced plexiglass separated me from the opposite side. When the heavy steel door clicked open, a guard led Paige into the booth.
She looked unrecognizable.
Her expensive highlights had grown dull and greasy, tied back into a haphazard knot. She wore an oversized orange prison jumpsuit, free of jewelry, makeup, or designer labels. The arrogant, untouchable socialite had been stripped away completely, leaving behind a hollow, bitter shell.
She sat down heavily, glaring at me with eyes full of poisonous fury, and picked up the black plastic telephone receiver.
I lifted mine to my ear.
"Come to gloat, little sister?" Paige sneered, her voice raspy and hoarse through the speaker. "Come to see me in a cage?"
"I came to bring you your final paperwork," I said calmly, holding up a single document against the glass. "The court granted my petition. You have been officially removed as a contingent beneficiary from Grandfather’s residual estate. You have zero claims to the Vance name, the trust, or the properties."
Paige slammed her fist against the plexiglass, making the guard step forward with a warning hand on his baton.
"You stole my life, Maya!" she hissed, spitting against the glass. "Everything you have belongs to me! Mother loved me! Grandfather should have given it all to me! You were always nothing! Just an awkward, pathetic little shadow who hid in the library while I ruled this city!"
"You didn't rule anything, Paige," I replied, my voice steady, calm, and utterly devoid of anger. "You were a bully. You thought cruelly throwing people into swimming pools and taking their clothes made you powerful. But the moment the lights came on and real strength was required, you folded like paper."
"My lawyer is filing for bail tomorrow!" Paige snarled desperately. "Uncle Derek will hire the best defense team in the country! I’ll be out of here in six months, Maya, and when I get out—"
"Derek took a plea deal two hours ago, Paige," I interrupted softly.
Paige froze, the blood draining from her lips. "What?"
"Derek pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud," I explained. "In exchange for a reduced sentence of four years, he agreed to testify against you as the primary instigator of the corporate theft. Your bail hearing was denied this morning. You’re going to trial, Paige. And according to the prosecutor, you’re looking at ten to twelve years in a federal penitentiary."
The phone slid from Paige’s limp fingers, dangling against the wall by its coiled cord. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. The realization finally took root in the deepest corners of her mind: there was no rescue coming. No wealthy benefactor, no doting mother, no clever lie.
She was completely, utterly alone.
I slowly hung up my receiver, stood up, and turned toward the exit.
"Maya! Maya, please!" Paige’s muffled screams echoed through the glass, pounding both fists frantically against the partition as the guards moved in to restrain her. "Maya, don't leave me here! I'm your sister! It was just a joke! Maya!"
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I didn't turn back. I walked through the heavy steel doors into the bright sunlight outside, leaving the screaming echoes of my past locked behind concrete and steel.
***