CEO's Runaway Mate and Her Cubs

Chapter 436 Twenty years away

It was a rainy day. What bad luck.

Luther liked rain, usually. It would distract him from the boring repetitiveness of his cell. He would listen to the drops hitting the glass of the miniscule window or inhale the scent and feel free.

However, that was the wrong day for such a storm.

«Hey, Luther, I've tried calling again, but no one answers,» the guard told him.

«No?» he repeated. «Somehow, I'm not that surprised.»

«I'm sorry... How unlucky. I might try again in a couple of hours, okay?»

«No need, Richard,» he said.

During the years he had spent there, he had become sort of friends with most of the guards. After all, he wasn't a bad guy. He wasn't violent; he wouldn't cause a ruckus for stupid reasons; and he wasn't there for such a bad crime, all in all.

He had started talking with the guards out of boredom, and some of those chats became more and more of a habit until he had started giving them advice and getting information and small luxuries in return.

He had made that prison a home during the years. But it was finally time to leave.

He could return to the world, free to walk wherever he wanted and do most of the things he couldn't inside those four walls. The first was to eat some ice cream. He missed it, and the canteen never offered them. They would have some dessert, sometimes. But never ice cream!

He could go to the sea and take a bath. He could buy himself new clothes... as long as his private money was released from the blocks. He was so ready to return to living!

Yet, reaching a city seemed a pretty hard task. The prison was half an hour's drive away from the closest town... By foot, it would be even worse, and there weren't buses that day.

He had tried calling his family, but no one replied. He hadn't asked the guard whether they didn't reply at all or hung up after hearing who was calling. Maybe, it was better not to know.

«Who knows how things are at home now?» he asked himself. «The kids must be all grown-up already. Oh, they're adults now. But... How wicked of them to forget their uncle. I thought you loved me, and yet.»

He packed his things, the few mementos he wanted to keep from the prison. Mostly, cheap or handmade gifts he exchanged with other convicts. Some of them had left long ago after serving their sentences. Others died in that place, naturally or less naturally. Many people had been part of his life during those twenty years.

But he was happy to finally be able to meet someone who wasn't being paid to watch him, nor did commit questioning crimes.

After all, just like everyone else in there, he was innocent. Oddly enough, he hadn't said it once since the sentence. A cruel voice in his mind told him it would be useless. And even more painful if no one believed him.

«I guess no taxis either,» he said when the guard came back with a sad face once again. «But did anyone answer at all? Maybe they changed the number.»

«Someone did pick up. It was a woman. She said they didn't know anyone going by your name and not to call again.»

«I see. Then, the number is real. They just don't want to have anything to do with me.»

He collected his bag and walked out, oddly feeling nostalgia. Even though restricted from most things he liked, that place had been his home for twenty years, and those people were his companions.

«I don't have an umbrella,» he muttered, thinking about stealing one from the entrance. In the end, the guards would go back by car. He was alone and on foot.

The rain didn't seem to be slowing down, and the wind would make any umbrella useless.

He took a few steps, and the first two or three minutes were the worst. The water would drip his clothes, reaching his skin. Every drop was chilly at the contact until he was soaking wet. At that point, his skin was cool enough not to shiver at every new wet spot.

He stepped into a few puddles on the way, so even his socks were soaked. He would wipe the water away from his eyes, from time to time.

It lasted for a long while, until the storm finally disappeared as if it had never been there. The puddles and humidity in the air were the only witness of the harsh weather.

A roaring sun had appeared from behind the clouds, and the temperature rose enough for Luther to start drying. Too bad that the humidity became unbearable because of that.

The air was already humid before, and the steam from the puddles would make everything worse. He hated that kind of change the most. Couldn't it continue being cold a little more - just until he reached a place to dry himself and rest a little?

He had chosen a random direction. After twenty years, he didn't remember whether to go left or right, out of the prison.

Only after an hour of wandering, he realised it was the wrong one. On the other side there was a small city. Like that, he had to walk forever before reaching the first inhabited place.

Further down that path, there was Norwich. He had planned to move there once out. Still, it was pretty costly as a city, and his finances weren't the best. Yet, in such a big city, he could melt in the crowd until disappearing.

For the time being, it was the best option. He had to wait for his assets to be unfrozen before being able to afford a place to live, but he had a backup plan. Your next chapter awaits on empire

Also, he had received some tabloids in the last two months. One of the new convicts loved gossip, and some of the titles had attracted his attention. Norwich was a place where many interesting things could happen.