Chapter 14 - The Broken Mirror
Grant Hale sat in a holding cell at the Manhattan Detention Complex.
His face was a tapestry of misery: his left eye was swollen shut, his nose was taped from a compound fracture sustained against the brass cart, and four cracked ribs were tightly bound with medical gauze under an orange prison jumpsuit.
Across the glass partition, his defense attorney sat with a stack of legal filings six inches thick.
"Can we post bail?" Grant rasped, his voice whistling through broken teeth. "Get the judge to set bail. Use the townhouse on 72nd Street."
The attorney took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "The townhouse was seized two hours ago under a federal lien filed by Lombardi's trust. Your bank accounts are frozen pending a money-laundering and design-theft indictment. The judge denied bail. You are classified as an extreme flight risk and an active danger to a minor."
Grant’s remaining good eye widened in sheer panic. "And Vanessa? Where is Vanessa?"
"Vanessa was arrested at JFK trying to board a private charter to Dubai," the lawyer said bluntly. "She's in the women's facility on Rikers Island. She has three felony conspiracy counts against her. Grant... there is no deal. The Lombardi family isn't negotiating. They are prosecuting you to the maximum limit of federal and state law."
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Grant slumped against the cold steel chair. He looked at his trembling hands.
For years, he had believed he was the master of his household because he could inflict pain behind closed doors. Now, behind the closed doors of a six-by-eight concrete cell, he realized the absolute truth: he had never been a master. He was simply a monster whose cage had finally been locked.
