Chapter 32 - Confessions in a DungeonHundreds of miles away from Columbus, inside a West Virginia federal penitentiary, Richard Bennett was spending his final years in isolation and illness.
The once-notorious real estate mogul now wore a faded orange prisoner uniform, his trembling hands holding an aluminum bowl of bland cafeteria food. Gone were the lavish evening parties with vintage wines; gone were the phone calls dictating real estate markets. All his power had evaporated into unpardonable prison sentences.
A corrections officer walked up and banged keys on the table: "Bennett! Visitor through the partition glass."
Richard looked up in surprise. Who would visit a penniless old man like him? Eleanor? That old wife had long cut off contact out of bitterness for dragging the family into the abyss.
Stepping into the partition booth and pressing the phone receiver to his ear, Richard saw Mark's gaunt face on the other side of the glass. The son whom Richard once used money and power to mold to his liking now wore an equally pathetic look.
"Dad..." Mark spoke into the receiver, laden with deep resentment.
"What are you here for?" Richard barked through the receiver, his arrogant nature still unyielding. "Came here to curse at me?"
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Mark gave a dry, heartbreakingly bitter laugh: "What's the use in cursing you? We've lost everything, Dad. Claire became a major corporate executive, and I work night shifts at a warehouse to pay legal debts. Are you satisfied? Your authoritarianism ruined all our lives."
Slamming his hand hard against the partition glass, Richard grew so angry his chest tightened, but he could do nothing except watch his son turn away and walk out, leaving him abandoned in the endless torment of prison.
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