Chapter 8: The Deal with the Devil
Blackgate Penitentiary smelled of bleach, rusted iron, and despair.
Sadi sat in the sterile, heavily guarded visitation room. She did not wear a hoodie or jeans like the girl who used to shrink away from the world. She wore a tailored white trench coat, diamond studs in her ears, and a posture of absolute, unyielding authority.
The heavy steel door clanked open.
Trevor Vance walked in, wearing an orange jumpsuit, his hands shackled to a waist chain. He looked thinner, his face gaunt and covered in a patchy beard. But when he saw Sadi sitting across the glass, his old arrogance flared to life.
He sat down and picked up the heavy black telephone receiver. Sadi picked up hers.
“Well, well,” Trevor sneered, leaning closer to the glass. “The Queen of South Harbor comes to visit the peasants. You look nervous, Sadi. Are the headlines getting to you?”
“I’m not nervous, Trevor,” Sadi said smoothly. “I’m here to give you a chance to survive.”
Trevor laughed bitterly. “Survive? You think you have power in here? Julian Thorne has power. He has the warden in his pocket. He promised me a transfer to a minimum-security resort and two million dollars in an offshore account if I testify that you and Roman forced Huxley to forge your property deeds. In forty-eight hours, your little charity is going to be rubble.”
“You always were remarkably stupid, Trevor,” Sadi said, not raising her voice.
Trevor’s smile faltered.
Sadi opened a sleek leather folder she had brought with her and pressed a document flat against the reinforced glass.
“Look at the name on that transfer order, Trevor.”
Trevor squinted. It was a prison logistics document.
“Julian Thorne isn't transferring you to a minimum-security resort,” Sadi stated coldly. “He filed the paperwork this morning to transfer you to Rikers Island. General population.”
Trevor’s face drained of color. Rikers was a death sentence for a white-collar fraudster who had turned state’s evidence.
“He’s silencing you,” Sadi continued, watching the panic set in behind Trevor’s eyes. “You are the only loose end tying Thorne to the perjury scheme. Once you testify at the council hearing, you are a liability. He’s going to have you killed in the showers before you even see a dime of that two million dollars.”
“You’re lying,” Trevor choked out, his hands shaking against the receiver. “He needs me!”
“He needs you on Friday. He doesn't need you on Saturday.”
Sadi lowered the document. She looked at the man who had verbally and physically abused her, the man who had made her feel worthless for years. She felt absolutely nothing for him. No fear. No anger. Only the clinical detachment of a chess player cornering a pawn.
“I, on the other hand,” Sadi said, “have the resources to protect you. Roman controls the syndicates that run the inside of every federal prison on the East Coast. If Roman gives the word, you will serve your time in absolute peace. Nobody will touch you.”
Trevor swallowed hard, sweat beading on his forehead. “What do you want?”
“I want the audio recordings,” Sadi demanded. “Don't pretend you don't have them. You are a paranoid coward, Trevor. I know you secretly recorded your meetings with Julian Thorne as an insurance policy. I want the tapes where he instructs you to commit perjury.”
“If I give you those tapes, Thorne will ruin me!”
“Thorne is going to kill you!” Sadi snapped, her voice finally cracking like a whip through the receiver. “I am offering you your life, Trevor. This is the last time I will ever speak to you. Choose.”
Trevor stared at the woman he used to break for sport. He realized, with absolute terror, that he had never really known her. She was not a victim. She was an empire.
Trembling, Trevor leaned forward and whispered a locker number and a combination into the phone.
May you like
Sadi memorized it instantly. She stood up, buttoned her coat, and hung up the receiver without saying goodbye. She walked out of the prison, stepping into the bright sunlight where Roman was waiting by the armored car.
Sadi looked at her husband and smiled. “We have him.”
