Chapter 8 - The Visit
(Word count: ~1500 words)
Three months later.
The spring rain pattered softly against the high arched windows of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago—a cold, imposing structure of gray concrete and heavy steel bars.
I sat in a small, sterile visitation room, separated from the opposite chair by a thick panel of bulletproof glass.
I was wearing a sharp cream tailored blazer, my hair styled elegantly, holding a small leather notebook in my hands. I hadn't come out of anger. I hadn't come out of revenge. I had come to close the final chapter of my past.
A heavy steel door clicked open on the opposite side of the glass.
A guard led Travis into the room.
I barely recognized him.
The polished, impeccably groomed CEO in three-thousand-dollar suits was gone. In his place stood a thin, hollow-eyed man wearing a loose orange prison jumpsuit. His hair was shaved short, his beard was growing in patchy and gray, and his hands were secured in heavy steel wrist restraints.
He slumped into the chair across from me, looking at me through the glass with a mixture of shock, bitterness, and deep humiliation.
“You came,” Travis said, his voice flat and raspy through the small brass intercom speaker.
“I came to bring you the final settlement papers,” I replied calmly, pushing a thin folder against the document slot beneath the glass. “The judge signed the decree yesterday. The divorce is officially finalized.”
Travis didn't touch the folder. He looked down at his cuffed hands, his shoulders hunched.
“Are you happy now, Eliza?” he asked bitterly, looking up at me with bloodshot eyes. “You took everything. My company, my reputation, my house, my money... even my freedom.”
I looked at him with quiet pity.
“I didn't take anything from you, Travis,” I said softly. “You destroyed yourself. You built a house of cards out of lies, forgery, and greed, and then you blamed me when it collapsed under its own weight.”
“I built Northgate!” Travis snapped, his voice rising, a flash of his old arrogance flaring in his eyes. “I made us rich! You were just sitting at home playing house while I was out making deals!”
“No, Travis,” I corrected him gently, but firmly. “We built Northgate together. But when the company grew, you let your ego blind you. You forgot that I knew how to read the books just as well as you did. You thought taking away my credit cards and locking me out of the house made me helpless.”
Travis winced, looking away toward the gray concrete wall.
“How are the kids?” he asked quietly after a long pause. His voice held a rare, genuine tremor of pain. “Do they... do they ask about me?”
I looked at him squarely. “Owen knows you made terrible choices and that you are paying for them in prison. Maisie knows you are gone for a long time. They are safe, Travis. They are happy. And they are surrounded by love.”
“Can I see them?” he pleaded, pressing his bound hands against the glass. “Please, Eliza. Just once a month. Let them come visit me.”
“No,” I said without hesitation. “This is no place for children. When you complete your sentence and demonstrate that you have truly changed, we can discuss supervised letters. But until then, you stay away from their lives.”
Travis dropped his head against his chest, a soft sob escaping his lips. For the first time in his life, he was facing the absolute, unvarnished consequences of his actions, with no money, no lawyers, and no shell companies to shield him.
I stood up, adjusting my cream blazer.
“I left a small stipend in your prison commissary account,” I told him through the speaker. “Enough for extra clothes, books, and basic toiletries. I did not do it for you. I did it because I am not the monster you tried to turn me into.”
Travis looked up at me, tears streaming down his hollow cheeks. “Eliza... I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I looked at him one last time.
“I know you are, Travis,” I said quietly. “Because you got caught.”
I turned and walked toward the exit door.
May you like
“Eliza!” he called out behind me, his voice echoing in the sterile room. “Eliza, wait!”
I didn't look back. The steel door clicked open, and I stepped out into the bright spring sunshine, leaving the shadows of the past behind me forever.
