Chapter 176 CHAPTER 176:FACING CALVIN
Wayne’s hands tightened around the steering wheel as the city passed in a blur outside his car window. The sun was just beginning to dip behind the skyline, casting long shadows across the streets. But he didn’t notice the sunset, the cars, or even the people hustling past. All that existed was a single, burning thought: Calvin.
The memory of what his brother had done the kidnapping, the shooting, the risk to both Elara and their baby was a fire that refused to die.
Every heartbeat was a reminder of the danger Calvin had caused, and every second spent in the hospital, watching Elara lie unconscious, had only made that fire burn hotter.
Wayne’s jaw clenched. The baby’s tiny hand, curled in the incubator, flashed in his mind.
Elara’s pale, vulnerable face. Their innocence and fragility and Calvin’s arrogance in thinking he could take that away.
No. Not ever.
The prison loomed ahead, a fortress of concrete walls topped with razor wire. Guards moved like shadows along the perimeter, their eyes sharp, disciplined. Wayne pulled up to the visitor parking area, his car engine silent now, replaced by the rapid drumming of his own pulse.
He took a deep breath and stepped out, adjusting his jacket as he walked toward the entrance. The air smelled faintly of metal and smoke from the distant city, a stark contrast to the sterile hospital where he had left his wife and child.
Inside, he passed through security with a practiced patience. Metal detectors, identification checks, and curt guards all procedural, all routine but Wayne’s mind was anything but routine. His thoughts circled around Calvin like a predator around its prey.
You don’t get to touch them again. Not now, not ever.
A guard led him down a long corridor lined with cell doors. Each step echoed ominously. Wayne’s heart thudded in time with his footsteps. Finally, they arrived at the visiting area—a small, sterile room with a glass partition separating visitors from inmates.
And there he was.
Calvin.
Sitting in his chair, hands folded casually on the table in front of him. The audacity of his posture, the calm in his expression it only fueled Wayne’s fury.
Wayne stepped forward, planting himself firmly on the other side of the glass.
“Calvin,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
Calvin looked up, a faint smirk on his lips.
“Well, well… if it isn’t my dear brother. Come to check on your precious family, have you?”
Wayne’s eyes narrowed.
“Cut the act,” he said, his voice sharper. “I’m not here for pleasantries.”
Calvin leaned back, feigning nonchalance.
“Pleasantries? After all that’s happened? Really, Wayne… you have a funny sense of timing.”
Wayne’s hand hit the glass with a sharp, audible thud, startling the guards just outside.
“Listen carefully, Calvin. I don’t know what’s going through your head, but let me make this very clear.” Wayne’s voice was icy, controlled, but the raw anger underneath was palpable. “If anything anything happens to Elara… or my baby… I swear to God, I will make sure you don’t walk out of that prison alive. You hear me?”
Calvin’s smirk faltered slightly, though he quickly recovered, his dark eyes glinting with defiance.
“And what makes you think you could do that from the outside,?
Wayne leaned forward, pressing his face close to the glass, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper.
“I will find a way. You don’t understand me, Calvin. You never have. You think you’re untouchable. You think locking me out of this room changes anything. It doesn’t. And it won’t. I’ll find a way to make sure you regret every second of the misery you caused.”
Calvin chuckled, but it was forced, hollow.
“Impressive,” he said. “All rage, no patience. Typical Wayne. Always rushing in headfirst.”
Wayne’s hand slammed against the glass again, rattling the partition.
“Don’t test me.”
Calvin’s smirk returned, but there was a shadow in his eyes now, the faintest hint of unease.
“You’ve changed, Wayne,” he said. “You’ve always been obsessed with control, but now… this is different. You’re desperate.”
Wayne’s lips pressed into a thin line.
“I’m not desperate. I’m protective. And make no mistake, protecting my family isn’t a choice it’s a promise.”
Calvin leaned forward, his smirk fading slightly as he studied Wayne.
“You think yelling at me through glass changes anything?” he asked, his tone sharper now.
Wayne’s eyes burned with intensity.
“No. But letting me leave here without understanding the consequences for you would be a mistake.”
He leaned back, exhaling slowly, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous growl.
“Everything you did… the kidnapping, the shooting, the attempt to hurt my wife and child it’s unforgivable. And I’m making it crystal clear: you will pay if you even try anything again. You’re going to rot in that cell, knowing I’m out there. Watching. Waiting. And you will never hurt them again.”
Calvin leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, trying to regain composure.
“You make a lot of threats, Wayne,” he said. “Do you really think anyone can stop me? You’re all bark and no bite.”
Wayne’s jaw tightened.
“Bite? You have no idea what I’m capable of, Calvin. You made a huge mistake. A mistake I’m going to make you regret for the rest of your miserable life. You hurt them once. And I will make sure it never happens again. Not while I’m breathing. Not while I’m alive.”
Calvin’s smirk finally faltered, replaced by a hard, unreadable expression. He leaned forward, his fingers drumming against the table.
“You’re… serious.”
Wayne leaned closer to the glass again, his gaze locked on Calvin.
“Dead serious. And let me warn you: anyone on the outside who helps you even try to touch them your lawyers, your friends, anyone—they won’t walk away either. You’ve made the wrong choices, Calvin. And I am the consequence.”
For a long moment, the room fell silent. Wayne’s chest rose and fell with tension. Calvin stared at him, unreadable, and the guards outside held their positions, sensing the energy in the room but unable to intervene.
Wayne’s voice broke the silence again, low and cutting.
“You see the monitors at the hospital, the baby in the incubator? Every second they fight to live… I’m fighting too. And I’m not going to let you or anyone else take that from me. Not Elara. Not my daughter. Not my family. You hear me, Calvin? You will not get another chance.”
Calvin’s expression hardened, a faint sheen of sweat on his brow despite the controlled prison air.
“I hear you,” he said finally, his voice clipped. “And yet… you can’t touch me.”
Wayne’s lips curled into a slow, dangerous smile.
“You don’t need to see me touch you to understand the threat. You’ve felt it all along. You just didn’t know it was coming. I am everywhere they are, Calvin. Always. I’m patient. I’m relentless. And I never forget.”
Calvin said nothing. His hands tightened on the table, and for a moment, the smirk was gone entirely.
Wayne straightened, still locked in his gaze.
“This is your one and only warning,” he said. “You try anything, and you won’t live to regret it. Nothing, no one, will save you. You’re done.”
Wayne rose from his chair, slowly moving toward the exit. His eyes never left Calvin’s, and Calvin’s gaze never left him.
The guards signaled him to proceed. Wayne passed through the door, the fluorescent lights of the corridor washing over him, the air thick with tension.
Before leaving completely, he paused and spoke one last time, his voice carrying through the room:
“You hurt them once. I’m the consequence. And you will never never see them hurt again. Remember that every second you spend in that cell.”
Calvin leaned back in his chair, silent. For the first time, there was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes.
Wayne didn’t look back. He walked through the doors, the weight of his promise to protect his family pressing down on him, heavier than any burden he had ever carried.
Outside, the evening air was cool, but it didn’t touch him. He didn’t notice the city, the traffic, or the noise. His mind was already back at the hospital back with Elara, back with their daughter.
I’ll protect them. I’ll protect them both. And I will make sure he never touches them again.
Wayne had made a promise.
And promises like that…
Were not broken.