Chapter 55: Carlos... Please Be Quick… Please
The Following Day, Megan’s POV...
The room was cold and sterile, the air thick with the stench of bleach and confinement. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, buzzing faintly like a dying fly caught in a jar. Megan lay flat on the single steel-framed bunk, her five-month pregnant belly rising and falling gently as she stared blankly at the cracked concrete ceiling.
She blinked slowly, then shifted upright with a groan, pushing against the thin, government-issued mattress. Her hands cradled her stomach instinctively as she turned her gaze to the motionless figure standing just beyond the iron bars.
"I really need to go," she said finally, her voice low but sharp.
The prison guard didn’t flinch. He stood tall and broad-shouldered, arms behind his back, dressed in standard-issue black. His face was unreadable, like a stone carved from apathy.
"Pee inside that bucket," he said flatly, nodding toward the plastic container sitting on the cell floor, sterile and humiliating.
Megan narrowed her eyes. "You can’t be serious. You expect a lady to squat over that thing— with you standing there, watching?"
His expression remained neutral, gaze unshifting. "I don’t care what you expect. I’m stationed here to watch you, and that’s what I’m doing. If it’s urgent, use the bucket."
"You can’t treat me like this," Megan snapped. Her voice cracked a little, not from fear— but from restraint. "I’m not asking for much. Just some privacy to do something basic."
The guard exhaled, shifted his weight, and turned around with a huff. "Be quick about it."
Taking her chance, Megan hobbled toward the bucket. She crouched slowly, wincing, then let the stream of urine release with a hiss that echoed awkwardly off the concrete. The splashing sound as it hit the empty plastic bottom was loud— too loud.
When the last drop fell, she straightened and muttered, "Thank you. You can turn back now."
The guard resumed his position like nothing had happened, expression as hard as before.
Megan walked back to her bunk and sat on the edge, legs apart, elbows resting on her thighs. Her eyes bore into the officer.
"All this… for what?" she asked, her tone defiant. "Because I confessed on camera? What if I said I was distressed? You think that holds up in court?"
The guard’s face twitched— barely— but he didn’t look away. A faint smile crossed his lips, more of a smirk than anything else. He folded his arms across his chest, posture still rigid.
"You do know Carlos is going to get me out, right?" Megan went on, now almost teasing. "So I don’t get the point of all this... humiliation."
She leaned back against the wall, resting her head as she stared at him.
"Where’s the lawyer I asked for?" she demanded. "This feels like unlawful detention. I know my rights."
"Your lawyer’s on the way," the guard said without blinking. "Exercise patience."
Megan let out a deep, exaggerated sigh, then dropped herself onto the mattress again, staring up at the flickering light.
"Carlos, where are you?" she whispered, her voice now trembling, layered with frustration and desperation. "What’s taking you so long?"
Her eyes drifted closed for a second— just a second— before footsteps echoed down the corridor. Heavy, intentional.
The guard straightened at the sound and turned toward the hallway. A tall man in a navy-blue tailored suit strode into view, his face taut with resolve and disdain. His gold Senate pin glinted under the fluorescent lighting.
"Senator," the officer greeted immediately, snapping into form and bowing slightly.
"Well done, Officer," Senator Woods muttered, brushing past him without breaking stride. His attention locked onto the woman behind the bars.
Megan sat up as he approached, her brows furrowed. She didn’t recognize him.
"You don’t seem to understand the gravity of the hell you’ve landed in," Woods began, his voice low but stern, soaked in contempt. "We had over two dozen dead feds. OVER TWO DOZENS!!! You think a camera confession was bad? That’s nothing compared to what's about to happen to."
He took a step closer to the bars, his eyes searing into her. "There’s no escaping this. You will face justice. I’ll make sure of it. Personally."
Megan raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Who the hell are you?"
"The man who’s going to end the reign of terror you and your husband have inflicted," Woods replied, calm and deliberate. "The man who will put you both away."
A silence stretched between them like a drawn wire.
"We’ll see," Megan replied coldly, tilting her head.
Woods nodded once. "We will."
He turned and walked away without another word.
As his footsteps disappeared down the corridor, Megan scoffed. "What a fool," she muttered under her breath, then dropped her head back against the pillow.
Her hand instinctively moved to her belly, fingers lightly stroking the curve of it.
"Carlos," she whispered, her voice breaking now. "Please be quick… please."