Chapter 8 - Behind Iron Bars
The visitor's room at the Rikers Island Correctional Facility was cold, sterile, and smelled faintly of industrial disinfectant.
Margaret Sterling sat on one side of the thick glass divider, wearing an oversized orange jumpsuit. Her immaculate blonde hair was unwashed and messy, her face devoid of makeup, her eyes wild, angry, and bloodshot.
The heavy metal door opened on the opposite side of the glass.
Ethan walked in alone. He pulled out the metal stool and sat down slowly, looking at his mother through the reinforced pane.
Margaret immediately grabbed the plastic phone receiver attached to the wall, slamming it against her ear. Ethan picked up his receiver.
"Ethan!" Margaret shrieked into the receiver, her voice cracking with desperation. "Thank God you came! You have to get the family lawyers down here! They're treating me like a common criminal! They have me in a cell with—"
"I didn't come to get you out, Mom," Ethan interrupted, his voice completely flat.
Margaret froze, her hands clutching the receiver tightly. "What?"
"I came to tell you that the prosecutor is filing attempted murder charges for the car crash," Ethan said, staring at her with cold, unblinking eyes. "The mechanic who tampered with Ava's brakes confessed this morning. He gave the police the recorded phone calls you made to him two years ago."
Margaret’s face twisted into a mask of pure venom. "She stole you from me, Ethan! Ever since you brought that girl into this family, you stopped listening to me! She didn't belong in our world!"
"She belonged in my life," Ethan replied softly. "You didn't do any of this for me, or for Dad's memory. You did it because you are a narcissist who couldn't stand losing control over this family."
"I am your mother!" Margaret yelled, banging her hand against the glass divider. "You owe me your life!"
"You tried to take the life of the woman I love," Ethan said, standing up from the stool. "I am signing over all of your personal assets to cover Ava's medical trusts and legal damages. The estate is being sold. Your name is gone from the company."
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"You monster!" Margaret screamed, beating both fists against the glass as tears of rage streamed down her hollow cheeks. "Ethan! Don't walk away from me! Ethan!"
Ethan didn't look back. He hung up the receiver, turned his back on his mother, and walked out of the visitor's room into the bright sunlight outside, leaving her screaming echoing behind heavy iron doors.
