Page 1 of Pen Pal

Prologue

Enzo

Enzo

"Do you mind if I bring my intern with me?" my lawyer asked over the phone.

Great, another generation of blood-sucking vermin who only looked out for themselves. I didn't want anyone else to be this close to my case.

Then again, maybe I could have some fun. I should really teach this lawyer-in-training a lesson about how fucked up the system is and how they could make a difference. Or I could scare them so badly that they'd immediately make a career change.

Decisions, decisions.

"I don't mind," I replied dryly. "Bring him to our visit later."

"Good, she'll be happy to meet you. See you tomorrow,"answered, and the line went dead.

She?

Oh, I would definitely have fun with that one.

I smirked as I hung up the phone, strolling to my cell. Some inmates scowled at me, but I didn't care. They were too cowardly to mess with me. Once I was transferred to this prison, I bathed in the blood of the top dog here, and no one gave me shit again.

Vitali nodded his head in greeting as I sat on my bunk. "Any progress?"

I shook my head. "Gerald just wants to bring in one of his interns."

Vitali curled his lip with distaste. "I hate it when they do that shit."

I shrugged. "I think it'll be fun. The intern's a woman."

Vitali's eyes glinted dangerously. "When's the last time you even saw a woman that wasn't your sister, Enzo?"

"That one deputy," I remembered vaguely. "But she retired years ago."

Vitali grinned. "I pity the woman, then. She won't know what hit her."

"Lights out, inmates!" a deputy called, banging his baton against a celldoor.

"Already?" Vitali exclaimed, shooting me a pointed look. "Good thing you got that phone call in when you did."

"Ricci, lights out," the deputy called, and I realized it was Russo, one of the deputies I had a connection with on the outside.

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed, rolling my eyes as I sat on my bunk.

Russo glared at me before moving on, harassing the other inmates before all lights closed and the prison was plunged into darkness.

The painted-over brick walls were white, the concrete floor was gray, and a permanent musty odor drifted in the recycled air. Condensation stuck on the moldy shower curtains, and the toilets constantly emitted a low hiss. The sink's faucet dripped intermittently enough that the guards either didn't notice or didn't care. The fluorescent lights hummed when they were on, bright and blinding, and our only respite was nighttime when they were shut off.

"You're not going to get any sleep, are you?" Vitali mused.

"Probably not," I admitted. My mind was most active at night, and now that I knew I was meeting someone tomorrow, it was all I could think about.

"Always the over-thinker," Vitali muttered as he turned over in his bunk. "Talk to you in the morning."

I turned to the desk behind my bunk and removed my glasses, resting them on it as I lay in my bed. The mattress was thin, barely a cushion for the hard metal frame underneath. The only way to avoid back pain was to change positions frequently. If I slept too deeply, I paid for it in the morning.

Gerald was a shit lawyer, and he wasn't getting me anywhere in my case. I was found guilty of murdering my sister's rapist, so at least that part of my rap sheet was over. But since I killed the top dog, a known child molester, I was on trial again. I was facing life in prison this time, but I didn't give a shit. When they gave me twenty years for my sister's rapist's murder, I knew that the justice system was fucked.

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