Chapter 12 - THE VISITOR AT RIKERS
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The visitor booths at the Rose M. Singer Center on Rikers Island were cold, damp, and smelled of industrial bleach and desperation.
Elena Ross sat behind the scratched plexiglass partition, her hands cuffed to the steel table in front of her. The glittering gold evening gown had been replaced by a baggy, faded beige jumpsuit that hung off her slight frame. Her extensions were tangled, her makeup smeared into gray hollows around her eyes, and her skin looked sickly in the harsh neon lights.
The heavy steel door on the visitor’s side buzzed open.
Elena looked up, her heart leaping into her throat. "Julian?"
The person who sat down on the metal stool was not Julian.
It was Victoria.
Victoria was wearing an ivory cashmere turtleneck, a simple diamond watch, and dark sunglasses which she slowly slid off and placed on the counter. She looked radiant, powerful, and utterly untouched by the chaos of the last forty-eight hours.
Elena’s face contorted into pure venom. She grabbed the telephone receiver on her side of the partition, slamming it against her ear.
Victoria picked up her receiver, holding it delicately.
"You come here to gloat, you bitch?" Elena spat into the phone, her voice cracking with raw bitterness. "You think you won? Julian will make bail! His family has connections! We'll take this to trial and drag your name through the mud until Vance Enterprises is worthless!"
"Julian was apprehended four hours ago in the 74th Street townhouse," Victoria said, her tone level and calm, like a doctor delivering routine test results. "He tried to shoot me with an unloaded antique revolver. Bail was denied without prejudice. He’s currently in solitary confinement at the federal holding facility in Brooklyn."
Elena froze, the color draining from her lips. "No... that’s a lie. Julian wouldn't..."
"Julian tried to blame everything on you," Victoria continued, leaning in slightly. "He told the FBI you were the mastermind. He claimed you bought the digitalis, that you blackmailed him into helping, and that you promised to split the estate sixty-forty."
"That bastard!" Elena screamed, slamming her cuffed fists onto the metal table, rattling the partition. "I didn't buy anything! He was the one who had the dark-web contact! He came to my apartment with the vial!"
"I know," Victoria said.
Elena stopped, her chest heaving. "What?"
"I know he lied, Elena. But it doesn't matter what he says, and it doesn't matter what you say." Victoria picked up a folder from her lap and pressed a single document against the glass.
It was a property deed transfer.
"What is that?" Elena whispered, squinting at the fine print.
"The deed to your mother’s farmhouse in Ohio," Victoria replied. "The one Julian bought for her last month using my embezzled funds."
Elena’s eyes widened in sheer panic. "Leave my mother out of this! She didn't do anything!"
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"Your mother is currently being investigated for receiving stolen property across state lines," Victoria whispered into the receiver. "Unless, of course, you do exactly what I tell you to do."
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