Chapter 14 - The Confrontation at Wharton County JailBefore the formal trial proceedings began, Teresa requested a private visitation with her son at the Wharton County Detention Center.
She sat behind a thick pane of bulletproof glass in the sterile visitor's room. Moments later, the heavy metal door opened, and a guard escorted Rodrigo inside.
He was wearing an orange jumpsuit. His hair had been cropped short, and his face was gaunt, his eyes sunken and surrounded by dark circles. He sat down heavily across from her and picked up the black plastic phone receiver.
Teresa lifted hers to her ear.
"Mom," Rodrigo said, his voice flat, devoid of the wild madness that had consumed him at the ranch. "Did Victoria come to negotiate a plea deal?"
"No, Rodrigo," Teresa said quietly. "I came to look at you."
Rodrigo let out a dry, bitter laugh. "To see the monster you raised?"
"No," Teresa replied softly, searching his face through the glass. "To see if any part of my son was still in there."
Rodrigo’s posture faltered slightly. He looked down at his cuffed wrists resting on the cold counter. "The prosecutors are offering twenty-five years if I plead guilty to all counts. If I go to trial, I'm looking at life."
"Take the plea, Rodrigo," Teresa said, her voice filled with an unyielding, tough love. "Do not force Mariana to stand on a witness stand and relive six years of hell just so you can try to save face."
Rodrigo looked up, his eyes suddenly wet with tears. "You hate me."
"I hate what you became," Teresa corrected, her voice firm and clear. "I hate the cruelty you showed to an innocent girl. I hate that you dragged your father's name through the mud. But I am your mother. I will make sure you are fed, I will make sure you have books to read in prison, and I will pray every single day that God washes the darkness out of your soul."
Rodrigo pressed his forehead against the cold glass, sobs shaking his shoulders.
"I'm sorry, Mom," he wept, his voice muffled against the speaker. "I'm so sorry..."
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Teresa pressed her hand against the glass, aligning her palm with where his head rested.
"Take the deal, Rodrigo," she whispered. "Accept your punishment. That is the only way you will ever begin to be a man again."
