Chapter 254

Chapter 254

Katniss rolled down her window, stated her purpose, handed over her ID, and waited twenty minutes before she was allowed inside.

The visitation room was small. One long table, two chairs, a transparent plastic partition down the middle.

Katniss sat in one of the chairs and waited about five minutes before the iron door on the other side opened.

Lillian was escorted in by a female officer.

She wore a faded jumpsuit, her hair pulled back carelessly. No makeup. Her skin had turned sallow, and the dark circles under her eyes were so deep they looked like bruises.

Compared to the haughty, glamorous Lillian of before, she was barely recognizable.

She sat down across the partition, picked up the phone receiver, and looked at Katniss through the plastic. Her lips twisted into an ugly approximation of a smile.

"You came."

Her voice was hoarse, like she hadn't had water in a long time.

"I didn't think you would."

Katniss gripped the receiver, meeting her eyes. "You wanted to see me?"

Lillian tilted her head, her gaze sweeping over Katniss's face like she was appraising something amusing.

She ignored the question entirely, her tone carrying a edge of provocation.

"Katniss, you're looking well. Guess Cedric hasn't been giving you too hard a time?"

"That's none of your business."

"How is it not?"

Lillian let out a sharp laugh, a thread of something unhinged running through it.

"I'm in here because of you two. If you hadn't been so relentless about the whole thing, I'd still be living my best life overseas."

Katniss didn't take the bait. She just watched her, silent.

Lillian laughed for a while longer. When Katniss remained unmoved, the laughter faded, draining from her face until nothing was left.

She lowered her head, staring at her cuffed hands resting on her knees, and went quiet.

In just a few days, she'd become volatile—her emotions swinging wildly.

When she spoke again, her voice had changed.

The sharpness was gone, replaced by something exhausted. Almost pleading.

"Katniss, I've been in here for a week. Do you have any idea what that's like?"

Katniss didn't answer.

"Wake up at six every morning. Lights out at nine. No phone, no internet, no window to see the sky."

Lillian's voice dropped lower and lower. "I'm losing my mind."

"You brought this on yourself."

"I know."

Lillian looked up, her eyes rimmed red.

"I know I brought it on myself. I was greedy and vain and I deserve this. But Katniss, I don't want to die in here."

Katniss's gaze sharpened.

Lillian leaned forward, dropping her voice until it was barely a whisper. "Jason is dead. Did you know that?"

"I know."

"It wasn't an accident."

Lillian's pupils dilated, as if something terrible had surfaced in her memory.

"He called me before he died."

Katniss's chest tightened.

"When?"

"Two days before it happened."

Lillian licked her cracked lips.

"He sounded panicked. Like he'd been drinking, or maybe crying. He said someone was going to kill him."

"I thought he was just drunk. I didn't take it seriously."

Lillian closed her eyes. Her voice began to shake.

"He also said he knew too much. That 'those people' wouldn't let him go. I asked what he meant. He said he couldn't say—that even saying it wouldn't save him. Then he hung up."

Katniss's knuckles went white around the receiver. "Did he say who 'those people' were?"

Lillian shook her head. "No. He only said it was someone above him."

"Someone above him?"

Lillian closed her eyes and nodded, drawing a deep breath.

"I thought he was rambling. Until three days later, when I saw on the news that he'd died in a car accident."

The visitation room fell silent. Only the low hum of the ventilation ducts remained.

Katniss was quiet for a long time. Then, slowly: "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"Not even close."

Lillian opened her eyes and stared straight at her.

"Someone was pulling my strings the whole time. It wasn't Jason—Jason was just the messenger."

"Who?"

Lillian didn't answer right away. She leaned back, studying Katniss, as if weighing something.

A long moment passed before she spoke. "I'll tell you. But I have a condition."

"What condition?"

"Help me get a reduced sentence."

Lillian spoke each word with deliberate precision, her cuffed hands tightening around the chains with a nervous grip.

"I know I broke the law. I can't escape prison. But if you're willing to write a victim impact statement in my favor and petition the judge, I might qualify for probation."

Katniss looked at her without speaking.

Lillian held her gaze, unflinching.

"I know you think I'm despicable—bargaining even now. But Katniss, I just want to survive."

"The moment I say that name, that person won't let me go. I need to leave myself a way out."

Katniss listened, her mind a tangle of thoughts.

She pressed her fingers against her temple and asked, voice low, "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"I don't have proof."

Lillian's face was uncharacteristically serious, not a trace of a smile on her sallow skin.

"But I swear on my life, every word I'm telling you is true. If you don't believe me, go look into it yourself. Once you know who it is, you'll find the trail."

Katniss lowered her eyes and was silent for a long time.

A torrent of thoughts flooded her mind. Cedric's suspicion. The subtle hostility at the company. Jason's suspicious accident.

She needed an answer.

"Fine." She looked up. "I agree. If the name you give me has value, I'll write the statement and help you push for a reduced sentence."

Lillian exhaled like a woman released from a crushing weight, sinking back into her chair.

She closed her eyes, her lips moving silently, as if steeling herself.

Then she opened her eyes, leaned close to the receiver, and spoke so quietly it was almost inaudible.

Her gaze flickered.

"It's one of the old guard at the York Group. Someone with a very high position on the board."

"The name."

Lillian took a deep breath and let a name fall from her lips.

"Leon Peterson."

Katniss froze.

Leon Peterson.

Vice chairman of the York Group. Cody's right-hand man for decades. Thirty years at the company—he'd practically built the York Group alongside Cody from the ground up.

How could it be him?

"You're not lying to me?"

Katniss's voice rose involuntarily, disbelief written across her face.

"Why would I lie?"

Lillian smiled bitterly.

"Look at me. I'm at rock bottom. What would be the point? It's him. Jason told me himself."

"Do you have proof?"

"What Jason told me. That's the only proof I have."