Chapter 7 - The Visitor in Federal Custody
The subterranean detention ward of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago smelled of industrial floor wax, cold concrete, and bitter, rotting pride.
Julian Valente sat on the edge of a stainless-steel cot bolted to the wall of his solitary cell, wearing an oversized orange institutional jumpsuit.
His styled hair had been buzzed down to the scalp; his expensive manicured vanity had been completely stripped away, his hands and ankles secured with heavy steel transport chains.
The heavy steel slider door buzzed open with a loud hydraulic clank.
Roman Valente walked into the cell.
He did not hurry. His leather dress boots clicked rhythmically against the concrete with a slow, deliberate cadence. He wore an elegant dark charcoal wool overcoat over his three-piece suit, his posture commanding, sovereign, and entirely unbothered.
Julian flinched back against the concrete wall, his bloodshot eyes widening in a mixture of feral hatred and visceral terror.
"You came to gloat, big brother," Julian spat, his voice cracking into a dry, hoarse rasp.
"I came to look at you, Julian," Roman said softly, stopping three paces from the cot. "I wanted to see what three years of stolen ambition looked like when the bespoke suit was finally stripped away."
"You were always our father's favorite, Roman!" Julian hissed, leaping to his feet, his transport chains rattling violently against the steel belt around his waist. "He gave you the docks, the shipping lines, the family name! I was the one who went to business school! I built the financial network that made this empire billions! I deserved fifty percent of those Calumet berths!"
"You didn't build an empire, Julian," Roman replied, his slate-gray eyes locking onto his with freezing clarity. "You had a woman steal my rescue inhaler, scheduled a fraudulent conservatorship to declare me brain-dead, and sabotaged a crane that murdered an honest inspector six years ago for sixty-five million pieces of silver in Grand Cayman. You believed that because Amara was eight years old, she had no eyes. You believed that because Clara was a maid, she was powerless."
Roman reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a copy of the morning's unsealed federal grand jury indictment.
He dropped the heavy document onto the steel cot.
"Vivian signed a full plea-allocution at sunrise, Julian," Roman said. "She detailed every offshore routing token, every forged signature proxy, and the fact that you ordered the crane sabotage at Calumet Harbor."
Julian’s breath hitched in his throat. He looked down at the forty-eight felony counts listed on the parchment, his hands shaking so violently that the paper fluttered against his knees.
"Vivian... confessed?" he whispered, his voice finally breaking into a pathetic, terrified whimper.
"Vivian saved herself, Julian," Roman answered quietly. "Just as you tried to save yourself at my dining table. The Julian Valente assets have been completely liquidated by the federal receivership, and your legal defense trust has a balance of zero."
Julian collapsed onto the cot, burying his face in his cuffed hands, weeping with the raw, ugly agony of a man who had realized that his vanity had left him completely alone in the dark.
"Roman... please," he sobbed through his fingers. "We share the same father's blood... think of our childhood... tell Arthur to drop the capital murder counts..."
Roman looked at the broken man on the cot.
The brother who had grown up in his father’s house was gone forever, replaced by an empty shell whose cruelty had consumed his own soul.
"You ceased being my brother the day you stole my breath, Julian," Roman whispered softly. "And now you can spend the rest of your life counting the days in the cold."
Roman turned his back on the broken conspirator.
May you like
"Guard," Roman called out.
The heavy steel door slid open, and Roman walked down the echoing corridor into the bright morning sunshine of Chicago, leaving Julian Valente to weep in the concrete shadows where he would remain for thirty-five years.
