Chapter 14 - The Final Goodbye
Before Victor was permanently transferred to a federal penitentiary in Pennsylvania to serve out the remainder of his fourteen-year sentence, Landon requested one final meeting.
He sat in the small, cold visitation room behind a reinforced glass window.
The heavy iron door opened, and Victor stepped in, wearing handcuffs attached to a waist chain. He looked shockingly frail, his skin gray, his shoulders slouched.
He picked up the black plastic phone receiver with shaking hands. "Landon..."
"I came to tell you one thing, Victor," Landon said into his phone, his voice steady and calm. "Leo is three years old now. He is happy, healthy, and smart. He calls me 'Daddy' and Aubrey 'Mommy'."
Victor's eyes filled with sudden, painful tears. "Does... does he know who I am?"
"He will never know you," Landon stated plainly. "He will grow up knowing only love, honesty, and kindness. He will never know the greed, physical violence, or deceit that you used to govern your life."
Victor lowered his head against the glass, sobbing silently as his shoulders shook. "I lost everything... didn't I?"
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"You traded a loving family for fake power, Victor," Landon said gently. "And in the end, you lost both."
Landon hung up the receiver, stood up, and walked out into the crisp afternoon air without turning back once.
