She blinked, thinking she was hallucinating. Then, her expression hardened into a mask of pure hatred.
“What are you doing here?” she rasped. Her voice was rough. “Did you come to gloat? To see how far I’ve fallen?”
“Elena…” Marcus stepped into the cell. The air felt heavy.
“Stay back!” she shouted, scrambling to stand up. “Don’t you dare come near me. If you’re here to hurt my girls…”
“I saw them,” Marcus said, his voice breaking. “I saw them on Michigan Avenue.”
Elena went pale. “If you touched them… I swear to God, Marcus, I will kill you. I don’t care who you are.”
“I didn’t touch them. I saw them. And I saw… I saw myself.”
Marcus dropped to his knees.
For the first time in his adult life, the billionaire knelt on the dirty concrete floor of a prison cell. He didn’t care about the suit. He didn’t care about the Warden watching.
“I know everything, Elena. I know about the doctor. I know about my mother. I know I was lied to. But that doesn’t excuse what I did. I threw you out like garbage. I condemned my own children to hunger.”
Elena stared at him, her chest heaving. She wanted to spit on him. She wanted to scream. But she was so tired. Ten years of fighting. Ten years of surviving.
