Chapter 9 - RECKONING AND REFLECTION
December brought the first heavy snowfall of the year to Columbus. The streets turned a blinding, pristine white, burying the dirt and grime beneath a thick blanket of ice and snow.
I walked down High Street with a heavy wool scarf wrapped around my neck, my boots crunching rhythmically against the frozen pavement. I was carrying a bag of groceries when my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown local number.
From: [Facility Mailroom - Franklin County Corrections] Notice: You have a legal correspondence request from inmate Vance, R.
I stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk, watching my breath plume into the freezing air like white smoke.
Ryan.
He wanted something. A favor? An apology? A lifeline out of the nightmare he had engineered for himself?
I stared at the screen for a long, quiet moment. Then, with a steady thumb, I tapped the screen, hit Block Contact, and selected Delete Message.
May you like
I didn't feel anger. I didn't feel satisfaction. I felt nothing at all—which meant I was finally free. You cannot blackmail someone who no longer needs your approval. You cannot trap someone who has already walked out of the door.
I dropped the phone back into my coat pocket, adjusted the grocery bag in my arms, and continued walking down the snowy street toward my warm, quiet apartment.
