บททั้งหมดของ The prison where I found you: บทที่ 61 - บทที่ 70

The heavy iron door swung shut behind us with a resonant, metallic *THUD* that vibrated through the concrete under my boots.Immediately, the shift in the air was suffocating. Sector 2 had always possessed a frantic, undercurrent of tension—a volatile mix of clashing gang territories, volatile tempers, and the looming threat of the Reaper’s lethal iron fist.Now, that chaos had vanished. In its place was an eerie, unnatural stillness.The central atrium of Block C, usually crowded with shouting inmates and clattering mess trays, was dead quiet. Men lined the walkways, standing with their arms folded, their faces unreadable. But their eyes didn't drop to the floor when Kael walked past. The instinctual, bone-deep fear Kael had cultivated over five years had been replaced by a tense, watchful hesitation.Kael felt it too. His posture remained rigid, but his gray eyes narrowed as he swept the upper walkways, scanning every shadow, every group of men standing in silent clusters."Somethin

The iron door slammed shut behind me, the echoes reverberating through the narrow stone cell like a gunshot.Kael was standing by the small sink, washing the dried grime and sweat from his hands. He turned immediately as I entered, his storm-gray eyes sweeping over me, searching for any sign of harm."What did Dante say to you?" Kael asked, his voice low and dangerous, dropping the rag into the metal basin."He told me to ask you," I said, my voice trembling with an explosive mixture of fury and exhaustion. I stopped in the middle of the small room, my hands trembling at my sides. "He said his name was on the ledger. *The* ledger, Kael. Was Dante Rivas involved in my arrest? Was he part of the shell network you pinned on me?"Kael didn't flinch, but a sudden, tense stillness settled over his massive frame. "No.""Don't lie to me!" I snapped, my voice cracking under the weight of the paranoia that had been consuming me since we walked back into this hellhole. "He knows my name! He know

The morning air in the lower staging yard was thick with diesel fumes and the sharp, metallic bite of exhaust.I stood by the reinforced loading dock under heavy guard, watching a dark green state transport bus idle against the concrete barrier. After the blowout with Kael in the cell, I had volunteered for trash detail just to put physical distance between us. The heavy manual labor cleared the fog from my head, but it couldn't quiet the agonizing war raging inside my chest.A sharp clatter of iron shackles echoed down the access ramp.I wiped sweat from my forehead with the back of my sleeve and turned to glance toward the incoming transport line. A squad of high-security state corrections officers—wearing black tactical vests I’d never seen inside Sector 2 before—were escorting a fresh line of transfer inmates toward the holding pens.My breath caught in my throat.Walking at the center of the line, heavy steel chains bound tightly around his waist and ankles, was a man I thought I

The damp chill of the laundry intake room clung to the concrete walls like oil.I was sorting through heavy canvas bin liners, the steady, monotonous rhythm of the industrial washers humming through the floorboards, when the air in the room shifted. The two inmate attendants working the far press table suddenly dropped their irons, ducked their heads, and slipped out the side exit into the corridor without a word.I didn't need to turn around to know who had entered."They work quickly when they aren't terrified," Dante Rivas said smoothly, his quiet voice cutting through the mechanical thrum of the facility.He leaned against the heavy iron frame of the folding table, his pristine grey jumpsuit spotless, a small manila folder tucked loosely beneath his arm. The pale blue of his eyes picked up the harsh fluorescent light, cold and unnervingly still.I kept my hands on the rough canvas of the laundry bag, my posture stiffening as I looked at him."Kael's enforcers are sweeping the lowe

The shift happened over forty-eight hours, creeping through the concrete veins of Sector 2 like a low-grade fever.It started in the mess hall. Three morning supply runs arrived short, leaving half of Block B without breakfast. By noon, the hot water lines running to the lower showers had been severed, and two pallets of medical antiseptic vanished from the infirmary storage bay. Small, brutal skirmishes flared up in the exercise yards—not the usual turf disputes between rival crews, but coordinated, chaotic strikes designed to draw guards away from the perimeter posts.Dante Rivas wasn't taking the block by force. He was starving it, fraying its nerves, testing every link in Kael’s chain of command."He's bleeding us," Kael growled, staring down at a faded map of the facility spread across his steel desk. His uninjured hand traced the primary supply routes, his jaw tight enough to grind stone. "If I can't keep the tiers fed by tomorrow morning, the block lieutenants will stop taking