Dead Presidents (An Aria Raymond Thriller Book 3) by Thomas Ransom (that summer book txt) 📕

inside and talked for a few moments with the scruffy guy sitting at the reception.

Aria sat with her head buried in her hands. Her legs were shaking. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths until she heard the gentle voice of Sanjay.

“You ready?”

Aria couldn’t speak; she merely nodded and stood up. Sanjay nodded towards the guard who was looking impatiently at them, “He is going to take you to the meeting area. You have about 15 to 20 minutes. A guard will be standing right inside to make sure you are okay. You can leave any time you want. If you feel you can’t do this, you can even leave when you are right outside the door. Just tell the guard, and he will bring you back here. Okay?”

Aria nodded.

“I’ll be waiting right here. Good luck!”

Aria gave him a quick smile and followed the guard. The anxiousness wasn’t just because of meeting David. Being inside a prison brought back painful memories for her as well. She hadn’t even thought about that. It was too late to do anything about that now, she told herself. She was here. She needed to do this. Get it over with.

The guard stopped outside the door and opened it.

“Sit right there,” he pointed to the chair and table in the middle of the room. There was no one else in the room. This wasn’t the visiting hour, which meant Sanjay had called in special favors. “Someone will be bringing the inmate out here in a few minutes.”

Aria nodded and thanked the guard.

“I will be standing outside the door. The other guard will stay inside for your protection. Just let him know and he will knock on the door when you are done, and I will open the door, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Aria waited for what felt like an eternity. Suddenly she heard the sounds of chains. She recognized those sounds. The many times she was chained up to come to the meeting room to talk for a few minutes with Diaz, Sanjay, Tanya, or David. She closed her eyes and gave her head a little shake. This wasn’t the time to think about these things. She felt the click of the handcuffs being unlocked, and she pictured how they would take off the chains outside the door so the prisoners could talk to the family a little freely.

She soon heard footsteps. Aria wanted to turn around, but she felt frozen. The footsteps came closer and stopped near her. She heard the guard say, “You have 15 minutes. Don’t you dare try to pull something; I swear I’ll put a bullet right through your head. Understood?”

David probably nodded because Aria didn’t hear him, or maybe she blocked him out. He didn’t move; neither did Aria. She kept staring straight ahead. There was a line of windows far up on the walls opposite her. The ceiling was high. No one could possibly reach those windows even after standing up on the table. Why then put bars on them? Were they afraid someone would still try to jump out of there? But the meeting room was four to five stories high! If someone did manage to make it to the windows, the fall would break their legs.

Suddenly, there was a movement behind her. She closed her eyes. “Aria?” she heard him speak. She opened her eyes, and there he was, looking straight into her eyes. How she had longed to see that face all the time she was in prison. How she had longed to talk to him. He was looking intently at her. Aria felt her throat choke up.

“Aria…” David started, but his voice trailed away.

They sat in silence for a while. There was so much that Aria wanted to say to him, but her mind was blank for now. She thought she would be mad at him and might even scream or maybe cry. However, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything.

“I… I just… I don’t know how to begin…” David spoke up again. “I am surprised that you came to see me… I didn’t think you would… I mean, I honestly don’t deserve it. I just want you to know… I…” Aria looked at him, and he went silent. He couldn’t look into her eyes and stared at his hands. “I am really sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen…”

“Mean what to happen exactly?” Aria snapped suddenly, “You didn’t mean to create a new identity? Didn’t mean to get close to me? Didn’t mean to commit a murder? A murder! And you then didn’t mean to let the police arrest me for a crime you committed? Huh, David!? You didn’t mean to let me rot in prison for months while you were roaming about freely after murdering my boss? You murdered someone!! How the hell can you even think about taking someone’s life?! How did you even muster up the nerve to kill someone? To rob them of their life?”

David stammered, “Aria… I…”

“Then you let people believe that I was the murderer?!”

“I was trying to protect you…”

“Shut up!! That is not how you protect someone you love… or claim to love. It was all a lie, wasn’t it?”

“No… Aria… I still love you…”

“Don’t you dare!” Aria was furious.

“Aria, please, listen to me. I didn’t have a choice… these people are dangerous…”

“There is always a choice! These people are dangerous. You think I don’t know that? They most certainly are, but you know what? That didn’t stop Sanjay, did it? No! He is a cop and knows how to handle these people. But did it stop Diaz? Do you know how much she had to suffer, and yet she vowed to help me? She had a choice to hide and protect herself. I wouldn’t have blamed her, but she didn’t! No! She is a lawyer and knows people,”