Chapter 10 - Begging on Broken Glass
Two weeks later, the preliminary evidentiary hearing took place at the State Supreme Court.
The courthouse steps were lined with barricades holding back crowds of angry citizens chanting my name and holding signs demanding justice for Leo and Maya.
I arrived in a sleek, obsidian-black Maybach, accompanied by my legal team and personal security. Dressed in a sharply tailored charcoal coat, I walked up the marble steps with measured, aristocratic grace.
Inside the pre-trial holding corridor, through the soundproof glass partition, Flynn Vance sat handcuffed to a stainless-steel table.
He was unrecognizable.
In just fourteen days of jail time, stripped of his luxury suits, expensive hair products, and arrogant posture, he looked like a broken shell. His cheeks were hollow, his eyes sunken and bloodshot, his prison uniform hanging loosely on his trembling frame.
The moment he saw me walking past the security gate, he threw himself against the glass, screaming like a wounded animal.
"Claire! CLAIRE! Please, let me speak to you! One minute! Just one minute!"
I stopped. I turned my head slowly, meeting his gaze.
"Officer," I said calmly to the bailiff. "Open the intercom for thirty seconds."
The officer hesitated, then nodded and flipped the switch on the wall.
Flynn collapsed onto his knees on the other side of the glass, pressing his palms against the cold surface, tears streaming down his grimy face.
"Claire... my love... forgive me!" he sobbed hysterically. "I was insane! Chloe poisoned my mind! She manipulated me! I love you, Claire! I've always loved you! Leo and Maya are my children too! Please... don't send me to maximum security! You know what they do to child abusers in there... they’ll kill me, Claire! They’ll tear me apart!"
I stepped closer to the glass, looking down at the man I had once thought was my entire world.
"When my heart stopped beating on that operating table, Flynn," I said, my voice steady, devoid of anger or trembling, "the monitor flatlined for three minutes and forty-two seconds. Do you know what you did during those three minutes?"
Flynn choked on his sobs, unable to speak.
"You signed a release form to sell my organs before my body was even cold," I continued. "You didn't ask to see my face. You didn't ask if the babies were warm. You walked out of the room to have champagne with Chloe Sterling."
"I was in shock!" he wailed, banging his forehead against the glass. "I swear I was in shock! Give me a second chance! I’ll be your servant! I’ll sign away every right, I’ll never see the children, just drop the attempted murder charge! Please, Claire! Have mercy!"
"Mercy is for human beings, Flynn," I said quietly. "You are not a human being. You are a debt that has come due."
I stepped back, motioning to the officer.
"Claire! NO! CLAIRE!" his screams were abruptly cut off as the officer flipped the switch, cutting the audio feed completely.
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Flynn beat his fists against the glass in soundless agony, watching my back disappear down the sunlit corridor into the courtroom where his twenty-five-year sentence awaited him.
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