AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I never forgot what he had been willing to give up so I could potentially go free.
103
Time passes differently in prison. It feels like the same endless loop, over and over – because it is. You get up, do your routine, go to bed, then get up and do it all over again.
There are fights… there are riots… there are attempts on your life… but they become part of the endless loop, too. The unending sameness of your day-to-day existence.
Then one day you wake up –
And three and half years have passed.
I only realized it because I got a visit from my attorney. Not the expensive one that Dario’s brother had hired, but Silvia Altamura, the woman who had handled my plea deal.
I saw her in the same room where I’d met Bernardi, the crooked cop who had tested my loyalty to Dario.
As soon as the guard left, she said in English, “Congratulations. Your sentence has been commuted.”
I stared at her. “…what?”
“They’ve decided to let you go a year and a half early.”
“…why?!”
“San Vittore has serious overcrowding. They reviewed potential cases for parole, and your offense was the least serious. There wasn’t any bad behavior in your record, so they decided you were one of the lucky candidates.”
The only reason there was no bad behavior in my record was because I’d never been caught – and because no one in power in San Vittore ever asked any questions. They just disposed of the bodies and went along like nothing had ever happened.
Silvia frowned. “You don’t seem too happy.”
She was right; I was mostly shocked. Numb.
Half of me wondered if this wasn’t another test from Dario’s family.
“It’s just… I never expected this,” I said. “When do I get out?”
“It’ll take about a week to process the paperwork, but then you’re a free man.”
One week.
After three and a half years… all I had left was one week.
“Are you alright?” Silvia asked, her brow crinkling. “I’ve never delivered better news to a client before, and yet I’ve never gotten a more subdued reaction.”
“No, I’m… I’m fine. Thank you for coming to let me know.”
“You’re very welcome. Well… that’s all I came for, so if there’s nothing else…”
“No. No, thank you.”
She rapped on the door for the guard to take me back. When he came to collect me, Silvia gave me a little smile. “Good luck, Lars. Stay out of trouble. I don’t want to see you as a client again.”
I nodded and walked out into the hall with the guard.
He escorted me back to my cellblock and then walked away. Once I was on my own, the enormity of everything finally hit.
Rachel.
I could finally go search for Rachel.
