Chapter 9 - The Prison Visit
Before we moved into the new home permanently, I made one final visit to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago.
I sat behind the thick glass partition in the visitor room.
A minute later, Ryan was led in by two corrections officers. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit, his hair unkempt, his face thin and hollowed out. The arrogant, controlling man I had lived with for eight years had completely withered away.
He picked up the heavy plastic phone receiver, his eyes pleading as he looked through the glass.
I picked up my receiver, keeping my face completely expressionless.
"Emily..." Ryan begged, his voice raspy through the speaker. "Please... you have to talk to your father. Tell him to drop the state assault charges. I can't survive in here..."
"I didn't come here to talk about your sentence, Ryan," I said, my voice steady, cold, and absolute.
"Then why are you here?" he whimpered. "Did you bring Lily? Can I see my daughter?"
"You will never see Lily again," I said clearly. "I came here to give you one final message."
I held up a copy of the finalized legal court decree against the glass wall.
May you like
"Your name has been legally erased from our lives," I continued. "Lily’s last name has been legally changed to Whitmore. Everything you tried to steal has been restored. You have lost everything—and we have never been happier."
I hung up the phone receiver, stood up, and walked out of the visitor room without looking back once.
