Chapter 8 - The Confrontation
Before Daniel was transferred to a maximum-security federal facility to await his trial, I requested a fifteen-minute visitation.
I sat behind the thick glass partition in the county jail detention center. When Daniel was led in, wearing an orange jumpsuit and hand-cuffed at the waist, he looked hollowed out. The polished, charismatic executive was gone, replaced by a desperate, defeated man.
He picked up the heavy plastic phone receiver. I picked up mine.
"Are you happy now?" Daniel sneered, his voice coming through the receiver thin and metallic. "You took the company. You took the house. You turned Maya and Noah against me."
"You did that to yourself, Daniel," I said calmly. "You were willing to let me spend fifteen years in prison for crimes you committed. You stole my youth, my reputation, and my children's peace of mind. Why?"
Daniel let out a bitter, cold laugh. "Because you were always better at it than me, Victoria! The investors listened to you. The engineers respected you. I was just the salesman! I knew if the company went public, everyone would see that you were the real brain behind Nova Tech. I couldn't let you own me."
I stared at him through the glass, feeling a strange mix of pity and disgust. "You destroyed your entire life because of an ego trip."
"I'm still their father," Daniel snapped, pressing his hand against the glass. "You can't erase me from Noah and Maya's lives!"
May you like
"Noah is the one who found the phone, Daniel," I reminded him softly. "He saved me. He saw who you really were long before I did. You erased yourself."
I hung up the phone receiver, stood up, and walked toward the exit door without looking back. Behind me, Daniel began slamming his hand against the glass, screaming unheard words, until the guards forced him down onto his seat.
