The state Prison was located deep in the heart of the city, situated on an island about two hundred meters away from land. It was a facility with maximum security meant for only the worst of the worst. No visitors were allowed, and the inmates were hardly allowed to see the sunlight. It was like Alcatraz, but way worse! At that moment, an elevator had risen to the cell on the top floor. The elevator doors opened slowly, revealing a tall man with an intimidating look on his face. The chief warder. The man was as ruthless as he was fearsome. He stepped out of the elevator and walked into the hall, stopping in front of a cell. "Everest! You're free to go." His coarse voice echoed through out the silent hall. He opened the door and a slender– almost skinny looking –man walked out. "Congratulations. Once you step out of those big gates, you're a free man." Van only acknowledged the man's words with a small nod. If he wanted to, he would have gotten out of prison ages ago. Afte

With the help of his personal chauffer, Van was finally able to locate his mother's house. His heart sank in his chest when he saw the old, beat up house his mother lived in. When Van was arrested, he felt he didn't have much to worry about, since he had already bought a house he would live in with his wife after their wedding. And Bianca came from a good home, so he thought his mother would get by just fine. However, if Bianca had been unfaithful right from the onset, he wondered how his mother's life would have been for the whole five years he was gone. "Mom, I'm so sorry you had to live such a tough life because of me." He muttered to himself. "I swear I'm going to make it all better." Remembering Bianca and Moses, he clenched his fists tightly and his lips was pulled together tightly. He couldn't just let them get away with their actions just like that. At that moment, he saw a woman parking her electric bicycle just outside the gate. She was wearing a helmet, and appear

As Van made his way back to the house, he discovered that his mother had gone out to the gate to look around for him because she was worried that something might have happened to him. As soon as she saw spotted him on his way back, she immediately walked over with a worried face and held his hand while asking hurriedly, “Are you alright, dear? They didn’t hurt you, did they?” She examined his body, checking everywhere to see if he was hurt. Van felt his heart grow warm and he smiled at his mother, who was standing a feet shorter than he was. “Don’t worry, Mom. They didn’t hurt me. I took them to an ATM and withdrew the balance for them. They won’t be bothering us anymore for money.” “Really?" She exclaimed, then asked. "You’re not lying to me, are you? Where did you even get such a huge amount of money? We're talking about more than a hundred thousand!” She was having a hard time believing that her son had that amount of money with him, especially since he had just been released fr

"You see son, after you were imprisoned, your aunts and uncles all avoided me like a plague. They said they didn't want anything to do with the mother of a delinquent son. I knew that they were only avoiding me because of the compensation we had to pay the Wilsons though." His mother had three siblings, and they were all doing well, so he had hoped that at least one of them would have lended a helping hand to his mother. "When I turned to them for assistance, they all came up with lame excuses. Your uncle Joseph wouldn't even see me at all, telling me he had traveled every single time I reached out to him. Eventually I stopped, and decided to hustle for myself. When I had given up hope, you father's old friend was the one who came to my rescue. He is also struggling and yet he managed to raise a sum of five thousand dollars to help me pay from the debt. He also makes sure to check in on me from time to time. But I haven't seen him in about three months now because he is away

A look of surprise flashed across Elaine's eyes. She couldn't believe the young man in front of her. How could someone who looked so measerly reject the sum of two hundred thousand?She started to think that maybe she might have misjudged him. Of course, she wouldn't admit that. “Can’t you just drop that already!” She replied harshly, trying to hide her surprise.“Is that any way to talk to our new friend?" The man glared at his daughter. Then he smiled and said to Van, “I have a suggestion, young man. Since you don’t want the money, perhaps you'd allow me to buy you lunch? I have to at least do sometjing to repay you. And of course, you'll get a proper apology from my daughter."Seeing tbat the man was sincere with his request, Van decided to accept his invitation. Any more refusal and it might come off as being rude. After all, other people wouldn't even spare him a second glance and here he was, smiling at him. "Then I guess my lunch is on you.” Van said with a small smile. “Ex