Chapter 18 - The Jailhouse Letter
A year after the trial, a letter stamped from the Federal Correctional Institution in Alice, Texas, arrived at my office.
It was written on thin, yellow notepad paper in shaky, faded blue ink from Victoria Vance.
Elena,
I know you will probably throw this letter in the trash, but I have nothing left to lose in this place.
I spend twenty-three hours a day in a concrete cell staring at a steel door.
Julian hasn't visited me once. He hasn't written back to a single letter I sent him.
My daughter won't speak my name, and my high-society friends act as if I never existed.
I thought I was the smartest person in every room I walked into. I thought money could buy protection from my own sins.
I was wrong.
You didn't just beat me, Elena... you stripped away the mask I wore my entire life.
I am dying in here... slowly, completely alone.
Victoria.
I read the letter quietly, standing near the paper shredder beside my desk.
May you like
I didn't feel joy, vengeance, or petty triumph as I slid the paper into the slot, watching it turn into tiny white ribbons.
I simply felt clean.
