Chapter 9 - The Echoes of the Past
Two years passed.
Inside a maximum-security federal prison in Colorado, the days were long, gray, and silent.
Vincent Caruso sat on his narrow iron cot, staring at the concrete wall of his cell. His hands were calloused from hard labor, his hairline receding, his face lined with premature aging.
Once a month, the inmates were allowed a single newspaper.
Vincent picked up the latest issue of Forbes Magazine left on the common table.
On the front cover sat Naomi Sterling. She looked magnificent, radiant, and timeless, holding the title of Woman Entrepreneur of the Year. Beside her in the cover photo stood Dr. Aaron Cole, his arm wrapped lovingly around her waist.
In front of them were five-year-old Leo and Maya, bright, healthy, beautiful children dressed in miniature formal wear, smiling broadly at the camera.
The article headline read: BUILDING AN EMPIRE ON GRACE: HOW NAOMI STERLING REDEFINED POWER AND FAMILY.
Vincent’s thumb brushed over the photograph of his children—children who didn't know his name, children who were growing up calling another, better man "Dad."
A tear slipped down Vincent’s hollow cheek, soaking into the rough newsprint.
He remembered the night at St. Catherine's Hospital. He remembered the sound of her quiet voice over the telephone: “I’m in labor.”
And he remembered his own arrogant, foolish reply: “She has nobody here... That's different.”
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Now, sitting in the cold silence of a six-by-eight concrete box, Vincent finally understood the true weight of those words. He was the one who had nobody. And he would have nobody for the rest of his life.
He closed the magazine, pulled his knees to his chest, and wept in the dark.
