CHAPTER 9
Adrian looked up as I sat down across from him behind the thick bulletproof glass, picking up the small black telephone receiver on my side.
He slowly lifted his receiver, his hand trembling slightly as he pressed it against his ear, staring at me with a desperate, hollow longing.
"Evelyn..." Adrian whispered, his raspy voice filtering through the digital speaker. "Thank you for coming. I didn't think you would show up."
"I didn't come for you, Adrian," I replied evenly, my voice completely devoid of hatred or anger—only a cold, absolute indifference. "I came to close this chapter forever."
"They gave me thirty-five years without parole, Evelyn," Adrian choked out, a tear sliding down his gaunt cheek. "My mother got forty. My family is completely destroyed."
"You destroyed your family the moment you traded your humanity for greed and cruelty," I reminded him flatly. "You built an empire on blood and lies, and you thought women were disposable toys."
Adrian pressed his hand flat against the glass, looking at me with a pathetic, groveling expression that made me realize how small he truly was.
"I... I was wrong, Evelyn," he sobbed quietly. "I loved you. In my own sick way, I really did love you."
I looked at the man who had watched me choke on the floor while eating salmon, feeling zero desire for revenge, only a profound, liberating sense of justice.
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"Real love protects, Adrian," I said softly, standing up from my chair and smoothing down my jacket. "You never loved anyone but yourself. Enjoy your forty years."
I hung up the receiver before he could reply, turning my back on his frantic, mute screams as he banged his cuffed hands uselessly against the glass.
