The Prison Project (by Bethany Donaghy) novel Chapter 178

Margot’s POV

I stayed exactly where I was.

Back straight.

Eyes fixed on the same meaningless page.

The book trembled slightly in my hands, but I forced myself not to move.

Behind me, I could hear Coban shifting somewhere in the room. The faint scrape of a chair leg. The slow sound of footsteps crossing the floor.

He was coming closer.

Each step felt like it echoed through my spine.

My lungs tightened instinctively, my breath growing shallow as I waited for whatever came next.

My heart thudded painfully against my ribs.

I didn’t know if he was still angry.

Didn’t know if the storm had passed.

Or if I’d just been granted a few quiet seconds before the next explosion.

But the footsteps stopped directly behind me.

Followed by more silence.

Then…

SLAP.

Something hit the desk hard enough to make me jump violently in my seat.

A startled gasp escaped my throat as the book slipped slightly in my hands and I near dropped it…

For a second I just stared down at my lap, frozen in fear.

Then slowly… hesitantly… I placed the book down to the side of the desk.

My eyes fell to see what it was he’d thrown down in front of me, as my brain struggled to process what I was looking at…

Money?

A thick wad of it too….

Notes stacked together in a tight bundle, wrapped up with a rubber band.

My brows furrowed as my eyes widened at the sight of it.

So many…

More money than I had ever seen in my entire life, not even in my dreams…

Slowly, my gaze lifted back up.

Coban stood beside the desk, looming over me.

His expression was unreadable now.

Cold. Controlled.

Completely different from the rage that had filled the room minutes earlier.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he said.

My throat tightened instantly.

Why did that word sound so dangerous coming from him?

My fingers tightened slightly around the edges of the seat…

“A deal…?” I started to ask quietly.

But he cut me off instantly.

“Look at me!” The command cracked through the air sharp, as my body reacted before my brain could argue.

I licked my suddenly dry lips and turned my head to face him properly.

His dark eyes locked onto mine immediately.

Sharp.

Assessing.

“W-What deal?” I stuttered softly again.

For a moment he didn’t answer.

Instead he gestured lazily toward the pile of money sitting on the desk.

“What exactly do you get for finishing this project?” he asked.

The question caught me off guard as my brows pulled together and I blinked up at him.

“W-What?” I stammered, before he continued-

“The project,” he clarified impatiently. “What do they pay you when it’s done?”

“Oh uh…” My brain scrambled for the answer, more confused as to why he was even asking.

“Uh… it’s… twenty five,” I said after a moment. “Twenty five thousand.”

Coban nodded once.

Like he already knew.

His gaze flicked briefly to the money on the desk.

“In front of you right now,” he said calmly, “there’s fifteen.”

My eyes dropped back to the bundle automatically.

Fifteen…

My stomach twisted.

Fifteen thousand pounds?

Right there…

Sitting on the desk like it was nothing.

Like it hadn’t just appeared out of thin air inside a maximum security prison. My mind struggled to understand it.

How the hell had he managed that?

“O-Okay…” I said slowly.

But my voice sounded small.

Uncertain.

Because I still had absolutely no idea where he was going with this…

Coban shifted slightly, leaning back against the edge of the desk beside me.

His arms crossed over his chest casually.

Like we were discussing the weather.

“If you leave the project,” he continued, “two days from now… on Saturday… when you go in for your next review…”

My chest tightened.

“…then you can take that whole fifteen thousand with you.”

For a moment I genuinely thought I’d misheard him.

My head snapped up, “W-what…?”

His expression didn’t change.

He simply shrugged one shoulder.

“Take it and go.” His words hit me like a slap.