Prison Visit
Dante
Wald’s trial lasted several weeks.
In the end, he was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for attempted murder, corruption, money laundering, and industrial espionage.
When the verdict was announced, I closed my eyes for a second and, for the first time in a long while, I truly breathed.
My family was finally safe.
As for Gaspard, he received a reduced sentence thanks to his deal with the prosecution.
But losing his family destroyed him far more than the conviction ever did.
Too bad it took this for him to understand.
And Bianca…
The visitation room is filled with muffled voices, scraping chairs, lowered gazes.
A gray, impersonal place where everyone comes searching for something: news, affection, sometimes just proof that there’s still someone waiting for them on the outside.
I’m sitting at a metal table, my hands clasped in front of me.
The back door opens.
Bianca walks in, flanked by two guards. Handcuffed, hair pulled back, her features harsher than they once were.
She’s almost completely regained her figure. She gave birth a month ago. The baby was taken in by her sister and brother-in-law.
She spots me immediately, and a smile brushes her lips.
The same smile she used to wear whenever she thought she could regain control.
She probably thinks my being here means something.
She sits down across from me.
“Dante—”
“Don’t say my name.”
The smile barely falters.
The guards step back a few paces.
Far enough to let us talk.
Not far enough to let us forget where we are.
Bianca tilts her head slightly.
“You still came to see me. I suppose that already answers something.”
I look at her without emotion.
“I came to tell you a few things. Once. After this, I won’t come back.”
Around us, other conversations continue. A mother cries softly two tables away. A child laughs without understanding.
Life persists everywhere.
Even here.
“I heard you’re trying to negotiate a reduced sentence with the prosecution,” I say.
She doesn’t answer.
“You should know that I’ll personally testify to everything I know, everything I saw, everything you did to us. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure the court fully understands the severity of your actions.”
Her gaze hardens.
“You came here to threaten a pregnant woman in prison. That’s pathetic.”
“No. I came here to speak to someone who tried to kill my wife.”
This time, the hit lands.
Only for a second.
Then she straightens again.
“Your wife who always looked down on me. Who flaunted her generosity, her success, her kindness just to make me feel small.”
She truly believes what she’s saying.
“She offered you a job when nobody else would hire you. She trusted you. She brought you into her company, her life, our circle.”
I lean forward slightly.
“And you repaid her with jealousy, lies, and violence.”
Her cuffed hands tighten against the table.
“You never understood anything,” she hisses. “You only see what you want to see in people.”
“Maybe.”
I hold her gaze.
“But I see you clearly now.”
Something cracks behind her eyes. Not remorse. Rage.
“And yet you’re here,” she says. “You pretend to despise me, but you crossed this entire city to come see me.”
“I’m here to close a door.”
She goes still.
I continue calmly:
“You will never be part of our lives again. No more messages. No more manipulation. No more shadow hanging over us.”
She lets out a hollow laugh.
“You really think this is over? People like me always come back.”
“No.”
I shake my head.
“People like you mistake obsession for power.”
Silence falls again.
Then she changes tactics, just like she always does when one strategy fails.
Her voice softens.
“Dante… I was lost. I never meant for any of this to happen. But I love you.”
I look at her for a long moment before answering.
“No. You wanted what my life represented. My position. My name. What Valeria and I built together.”
Her mouth tightens.
“You’ve never known what it means to love someone more than yourself.”
For the first time, she looks away.
“You have no right to judge me.”
“Maybe.”
I stand.
“But I have every right to protect us from you.”
She rises too, panic finally slipping through.
“Wait.”
I stop.
“Why did you come here?”
I turn toward her.
“To close a chapter. To move on. To forgive myself for believing you—for once believing I could build a future with you.”
Suddenly, naked anger flashes in her eyes.
“You think you won because she came back?”
I look at her for a moment.
“No.”
I straighten my jacket.
“I won the day I stopped believing you.”
She opens her mouth, still searching for a weapon, an angle, one last wound to inflict.
I don’t give her the chance.
“When all of this is over, we’ll move forward.”
I take a step back.
“You’ll stay here with what you’ve done.”
I pause to say the last thing I came to tell her.
“The paternity test confirmed what we already knew. The baby isn’t mine.”
I turn away.
“Dante!”
I keep walking without looking back.
Her voice follows me one last time—broken, furious, powerless.
Then the door closes behind me.
Something inside me finally loosens.
Outside, Valeria is waiting for me.
The moment she sees me, her face lights up.
I walk toward her without slowing down. She slips her hand into mine as though it has always belonged there.
And as we head home together, Bianca’s shadow finally stops following us.