Chapter 16 - The Visitor in FlorenceSix months after the unveiling of the sanctuary, Luca received a formal legal request from the Federal Correctional Complex in Florence, Colorado.
Adrian Cole had requested a final visitor meeting.
I drove up to the facility accompanied by Matteo. I didn't go out of anger, or revenge, or fear. I went simply to close the last open page of my past.
Inside the visitation room, separated by thick glass, Adrian picked up the heavy black phone receiver. His head was shaved, his skin sickly pale, his hands rough from manual labor detail inside the prison.
I lifted my receiver.
"Elena..." he whispered, his voice trembling as he looked at my radiant, healthy face through the glass. "You... you came."
"I came to give you one message, Adrian," I said, my tone completely neutral.
"I think about that night every single day," he sobbed, pressing his forehead against the glass. "I lost everything. My father died in the state hospital last month... my mother won't speak to me... I have thirty years left in this place..."
"You lost everything because you believed you were untouchable," I told him quietly. "You thought my family was weak because we didn't boast. You thought I was helpless because I was gentle."
He looked up, tears running into the stubble on his face. "Please... just tell me you forgive me. Give me that much."
I stared at the man who had tried to destroy me.
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"I don't hate you, Adrian," I said, my voice dropping into a absolute register of finality. "Indifference is far more powerful than hatred. You no longer exist in my world."
I set the phone receiver back onto its cradle, stood up, and walked out of the room without looking back.
