The Daring Billionaire’s Wife novel (Vanessa and Dominic) novel Chapter 191

Aileen

The door on the other side of the partition swings open and in walks a corrections officer, escorting a man into the room. My heart instantly skips a beat as our eyes meet, even through the thick glass that separates us.

The man being led to his seat is a far cry from the person I expected. I've only seen pictures of him from the documents and articles, which were all taken twenty years ago and there's such a stark contrast between those images and the current reality.

His freshly shaved face has deep lines and scars, his eyes only filled with an intimidating hardness. The short sleeves of his prison-issued shirt show off all the tattoos on his muscular arms, some of them being skulls and snakes. It then comes back to me that he's regarded as one of the most dangerous criminals here.

After he sits down, he leans forward, his eyes slightly narrowed with curiosity as he takes in the view of me. Then, he reaches for his telephone but doesn't speak, eyeing me in silence.

This intimidation is more than I can take as it sends shivers down my spine. Bringing my telephone to my ear, I swallow hard, trying to find my voice.

"Hello?" My voice is barely above a whisper.

"This is fucking crazy." His voice rumbles through the phone as his eyes widen a little. "I might be way over here with this glass in the way, but how do you look so young, gorgeous and out of prison? Is it really you, Arlissa?"

"I'm guessing that's my mother's name. I'm Aileen."

He suddenly rises to his feet with wide eyes and a chuckle, slamming the glass with the palm of his hand. It almost feels like he can break it.

The corrections officer steps in, instructing him to sit down and as he does, he bursts into laughter and I can't tell if it's excitement or just pure shock.

"Aileen! I didn't think I'd see you again!"

His enthusiasm gives me a little hope and I can't help but smile as I point out something. "I kind of look like you."

He scoffs. "Wait until you see your mother. You're all grown up. You look so beautiful. Isn't this my lucky day? No one has come to visit me in ten years here at Cyphers Maximum Security Prison. What a way to kick things off. How did you even arrange for this when it's usually impossible?"

"I pulled a few strings with the receptionist."

"That woman never listens to anyone, why would she listen to you?"

"I just told her my name. Aileen Richards."

The telephone slips from his hand and he quickly picks it up. "Richards? Which family is that? Dominic's?"

"Do you know him?"

"Just from the news and shit like that. So, you're a billionaire. Did you bring some cash with you? You know, I need money."

His tone and facial expression turn greedy and I can already feel myself leaving here disappointed.

Composing myself, I quickly change the subject. "I've been looking for you and mom for some time now and when I first came across those files with your information, I refused to believe it. Did you really do all those awful things I read about?"

"Listen here, for all I know, you might just be an imposter, in which case you'd be a convincing one because you do like Arlissa. If you want to talk, DNA test first."

"But what's so hard about admitting whether you did it or not when it's already in the information I have and you're here?"

"Then go with it."

"I just want to hear it from you."

"I'm not telling you shit. Get that DNA test done first. I'll give you what you need from me." He looks back at the corrections officer, who nods in agreement with bringing the sample to me. "I see you have everyone here working as they should, Mrs Richards."

"You really won't talk to me unless we get this test done?" My voice cracks a little.

He scoffs. "Am I not talking to you right now?"

I smack my lips. "You know what I mean."

"Nope. There's nothing to say anyway. I have to admit that it feels strange having someone like you visit me."