Chapter 2
Leo dropped me off at an apartment complex.
Nothing fancy, but it was new and quiet.
A two-bedroom place with a living room, south-facing, plenty of sunlight streaming in.
There was a bunch of fresh flowers on the coffee table, with a note pressed underneath.
"Welcome home. I'll cook tonight. From Emily."
The handwriting was clean and pretty, and at the end, she'd doodled a tiny sun.
I slipped the note into my pocket.
Leo walked around the living room. "Nick, you like the place? If not, want me to find you a different one?"
"It's good," I said, setting the plastic bag down. "Stop fussing over it. Tell me what's up with your side."
Leo grinned. "Just scored a Series A last month, 7 million dollars. Max from Building Three hooked us up with the investor."
Max from Building Three.
He got locked up for running shady investment schemes.
We shared a cell for eight months.
I helped him sort out his business game and showed him how to run things legit.
Once he got out, he started doing real business, and now he's an angel investor.
"How's Max doing these days?" I asked.
"Man, he's crushing it. He even made it into Business Weekly last month," Leo said, giving a thumbs-up. "He said when you got out, he's buying dinner for everyone."
I cracked a smile.
"Charlie, Hank, Rocky, they all said they'd drop by to see you," Leo added.
Those names, man.
All guys I met inside.
Charlie was in the restaurant game. After he got out, he went on to open twelve noodle joints.
Hank used to drive trucks. Now he's got a logistics company with three hundred trucks rolling for him.
Rocky ended up inside for brawling on a construction site. After he got out, he opened a boxing gym and last year, he even trained a state champ.
When they first came in, they were all lost and pretty much hopeless.
I was the one who talked to every single one of them.
Helped them write their appeals, helped them plan out their lives once they got out.
It wasn't because I was some saint.
Because I knew...
Connections you make inside? Those are rock-solid, unbreakable.
Friends forged through hardship.
Ten times more reliable than any business school alumni.
I took a shower and changed into some fresh clothes.
Before leaving, Leo glanced back at me. "Nick, you want me to keep tabs on your case?"
"Nah," I said, towel-drying my hair. "Whatever happens, happens."
He nodded, didn't say anything else, and closed the door behind him.
The place got quiet.
I stood at the window, staring down at the small garden downstairs.
My phone rang.
Leo had bought me a new phone, but made sure I kept my old number for the past three years.
An unknown number showed up on the screen.
I answered.
"Nick?"
A man's voice.
Deep, with that usual sense of being above everyone else.
I knew that voice way too well.
Jonathan Reed.
Claire's boss these days.
And the one who really put me behind bars three years ago.
"Mr. Reed," I said, keeping my voice cool. "Word travels fast, huh?"
"Had to check in on you now that you're out," he said with a chuckle. "What went down back then just a misunderstanding, right?"
Yeah, some misunderstanding, huh.
That's rich.
"Mr. Reed, you didn't call just to catch up, did you?" I said.
There was a two-second silence on the other end.
"Nick, you're a smart guy. Some things are better left in the past. You're free now, so why make things harder for yourself?"
"You think I'd make things harder for myself?" I shot back.
"Just a friendly warning," he said, his tone turning icy. "Your case got tossed because there wasn't enough evidence, not because you're actually innocent. If you want to keep your life peaceful, don't go stirring things up."
I laughed.
"Thanks for the concern, Mr. Reed. But..." I said, my tone turning cold.
Nick paused, letting the words hang in the air.
"I just got my law license today. Tomorrow, I'll be filing my credentials with the bar."
There was a full five seconds of silence on the other end.
"What?"
"Yeah, almost forgot, passed the bar while I was locked up. Scored a 412."
I hung up.
Threw my phone onto the couch.
412.
Top 5% in the whole country.
And I did it all from behind bars.
Used the old textbooks the guards lent me, and the practice exams Emily brought in during her visits.
Jonathan probably thought I'd just been rotting away in there for three years.
But there's a whole lot he never saw coming.
*****