Maddox
With tears running down my face, I crumple up the letter and launch it across the van. Curling in on myself, wrapping my arms around my knees, I let it all out.
I’m sobbing so hard I don’t hear the van door open, but the door slamming shut startles me.
Glancing towards the noise, I see Seb has crawled into the van and is moving towards me.
Settling beside me, I feel his arm wrap around my shoulders, pulling me into his side.
Even though I don’t want to be touched right now, I let him.
When I’m completely cried out, I sit up and search for the letter, flatten it out and refold it. I stuff it into the pocket of the hoodie and take the cigarette Seb holds out to me. He says nothing. There’s nothing he can say. We sit in silence smoking as flashes of the letter run through my mind.
He watches me for a few more minutes, waiting to see if I’m gonna be okay.
I nod, signaling it’s okay for him to go, watching as he slips out of the van.
I stay in the van for a little while, memories of the laughs, the smiles, and the love traipsing through my mind.
When the memory of Dax leaving me comes I look around and the good memories are tainted with it.
‘I’m startin’ to hate this thing,’ I think as I take another drag.
Maddox
Mel sits across from me with the phone in her hand, annoyed look firmly in place, as I try to explain it to her, again.
“I’m gonna try this one more time. I can’t get the letters from Kai.
I appreciate what you were tryin’ to do.
It’s killin’ me to keep denyin’ him, Mel.
It wouldn’t take much for me to give in.
But I can’t. I won’t allow him to put himself in danger.
” I tell her, hoping that she gets IT, that she just does what I need, and helps Kai do what I asked.
She nods, wiping away a tear. I know this is hurting her too, but I have to do what I can to keep us all safe.
I put her in danger by putting my box in her room and I threaten his safety, and mine, every time I mention him.
I don’t know who Mack has working for him in here, it could be someone on the staff.
For all I know they’re someone that reads the letters coming in.
These two will be the death of me if they keep it up. But if they just follow the plan, it’d be so much easier on all of us. But no, I would have to fall for the stubborn red head who I have a hard time denying anything that makes him smile so bright that his eyes light up.
As she says goodbye, I know it’ll probably be awhile before I see her again, so I make sure to remind her one more time before she goes. “Remember, nothin’ between me and Kai for now. I’ll be home soon, keep your head down and stay off Mack’s radar.” She nods sadly as she turns to leave.
I watch her walk out of the visitation area hoping that they just stick to the plan. If anything happens to them I won’t be able to live with myself.
‘One week down, a shit ton more to go,’ I think as I return to my cell.
Mylo
Watching a dejected Maddox walk back to his cell after visitation, I wonder if Cas has gotten anything from Vanya other than standing down while he digs into things.
However, from where I was standing I heard two things that I need to pass on to Cas tonight. I confirmed what we thought, it’s a boyfriend he’s worried about. Kai. Kai who? That’s gonna be hard to figure out.
∞∞∞
I get home before Cas tonight, it’s my night to cook but I’m too wound up to handle sharp objects and fire, so I place an order for pizza to be delivered at 7:00 pm.
The wait for Cas to get off work is moving too slow and I’m too pissed off about what I found out. All I wanna do is go pound on Mack’s door, maybe pound on Mack’s face a little too. It won’t fix anything though. The best thing I can do is wait and see what Cas has from the boss.
Deciding I need a distraction, I change my clothes and head out to our gym in the garage.
Turning up the rock playlist I stretch before moving to the speed bag for a bit.
It’s not enough of a distraction. Moving to the heavy bag, I take out all my frustrations and I’m a sweaty mess when the music suddenly stops.
Turning to see what happened I see Cas in the doorway holding the pizza.
“Wanna talk about it?” Cas asks.
I shake my head no, heading to shower. I shower quickly, knowing that we need to talk about this. Coming out of the room in a pair of plaid pajama pants, toweling off my wet hair, I find him on the couch in sweats, the pizza waiting on the coffee table. He opens his arms for me to settle into.
I relax into Cas and as he cards his fingers through my hair, I finally give him the details I found out today.
I’m shaking mad again by the end of it and he wraps around me, squeezing tightly to ground me.
After the hell my own father put me through before Vanya stepped in, I can’t help but want to be there for this kid.
“Vanya’s gonna want to know about this and I should have instructions soon. He said he is getting close to finding out what happened. I know it’s killing you that you couldn’t prevent this,” he murmurs into my hair.
I nod against his frame and bury my head further into his chest, before shifting so I could talk, “Cas, this IS killing me. I need to do something. We have to help them.”
He pulls my chin up so I can see him when he tells me, “Vanya is working on it. Be patient, Meelyi,” Cas says, leaning in to kiss me. I sigh into it.
Patience has never been one of my virtues, but I guess I’m gonna have to wait a little longer.
Casimir
I kissed Mylo’s forehead before leaving him in bed this morning. Once dressed and ready to head out, I grabbed my coffee thermos and lunch box. I was out of the house by 7 a.m. and it seemed like any other day, but it’s not any other day. I know today is going to be very different.
I felt the weight of the letters in my pocket as I walked out the door, as I got in my car, and as I headed into the prison to start my shift. I am dreading the check-in with Vanya today.
‘He’s gonna lose his shit.’ I think, as I clock in.
That man has done so much for Mylo and I, so of course I have to be the messenger of bad news.
The timing sucks, everyone knew that the first couple of weeks after Andrei visited was not the time to approach Vanya with bad shit.
I’d love to skip this, wait a while to approach with it, but, unfortunately, this is unavoidable.
Stepping into the cellblock, I spot Vanya playing chess with another inmate. I roll my neck as I approach the two men, leaning in to whisper in Vanya’s ear, “I need a moment,” I say, pressing the letters into his hand.
I step back and watch his reaction as he looks at what I’ve passed him. I watch as he opens one of the letters. His eyes grow wide as he reads, the further along he gets in the letter the angrier he gets.
Finally, finished reading he glances at me, a rage blooming behind his eyes that I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of if I was the one who fucked up. Looking back at the other guy, “leave us,” he says in his heavy Russian accent.
Vanya
I motion for Cas to sit as I take a quick look around. Once he’s settled in the now unoccupied seat across from me he fidgets and looks nervously at me.
I growl in agitation. “Mack, should’ve been here by now, so, can you tell me why what I have in my hand tells me someone changed my plan?”
Cas nods, “Mylo brought these home last night, said he made a copy of them because of who the one was addressed to. Apparently he has Mack’s son sitting in a cell over there.
The letter suggests that he took the fall for something he did not do.
” he says, sounding angry. “Vanya, he is scared for himself, but more concerned for whoever this ‘Kitten’ person is. We only know that ‘Kitten’ is boyfriend because Mylo caught the other letter going out. And if ‘Kitten’ is outside and we don’t know who… ” Cas pauses when I put my hand up.
I rub my hand across my mouth in thought, ‘Son of a bitch, that shit stain has a gay son.’ Stroking my beard, I say, “I need to think.”
Standing, I motion for Cas to follow me as I head towards the yard. I need to move and I need a cigarette. What I really want is a vodka and a joint. But I haven’t had either in a few weeks, not since Andrei’s visit.
Cas looks up at me with a frown, glances around, but stands to follow. As soon as we’re outside, away from prying eyes, I light my cigarette and exhale slowly. “I need Zak, you call him and get him here. Private room. This will not be pretty.” I say.
“Done!” He says. “I’ll call him as soon as we are done here.”
Turning to look at Cas, I ask, “What else do you know?”
“I know the kid has no one on the inside. Mylo says he hasn’t had a visitor other than some girl. She looks exactly like him, so he is thinking sibling. And he has next to nothing on his books. This is a bad situation for this kid.” Cas explains.
“Blyad'!” I exclaim, reverting to my native tongue. I’m so mad I’m shaking. “Mack is really testing my patience. I need answers from Zak to how all this got fucked up.”
As I toss the cigarette to the ground and grind it out with the heel of my shoe, I remember that my grandson is on probation. ‘We can use him to keep an eye on Dax inside, I just need Zak to set it up.’ Smiling at this thought, I continue issuing demands.
“While I try to figure all this out, tell Mylo that I want Anton placed into the kid’s cell when he arrives.
It is not request. He makes it happen! The only thing I want the kid to know is that he is under protection from big guy at Pontiac,” I explain.
“He is not old enough or close enough to know who I am.”
Cas nods, “Anything else before I go?”