The air inside the prison reeked of cheap disinfectant, despair, and violence barely kept under control. Sweat and a faint sour stench clung to Nathan’s senses from the moment he stepped inside. It was not visiting hours, but that did not matter. He had no intention of sitting behind thick glass, gripping a filthy phone like the other visitors.

The prison director greeted him personally. A man with reptile-cold eyes and a habit of holding out his palm, as if the world perpetually owed him ...