The Prison (Book 1)

The King is Dead

Schneider's P.O.V

"Hey, you, turn the volume up on that TV."

"Yes, sir." One of the guards produced a remote control and proceeded to raise the volume of the old box TV inside a metal box hanging on the wall.

"Hey, isn't that-"

Schneider shushed whoever it was with an icy glare, then returned his full attention to the TV anchor and the picture of a beautiful looking island right next to her. I held my breath and listened.

The pretty, grey-suited brunette said, "... on a privately-owned island in the Pacific Ocean, Interpol located and opened fire on the man believed to be wanted criminal Schneizel Cross and his associates who escaped from a maximum-security prison six weeks ago. The suspects returned fire and it is believed that Schneizel Cross and his associates were killed during the encounter, although no bodies have been retrieved yet. On a lighter note, beloved town stray dog was rescued..."

Every pair of wide eyes in the prison fell on me. A heavy silence descended upon the room.

A full minute passed before someone abruptly announced, snapping everyone out of their state of shock, "The king is dead!"

Complete and utter chaos erupted in the prison. Such a magnificent, ear-piercing uproar followed that guards armed with batons were forced to intervene and break apart random fights. Not too long after, the lockdown alarm went off like the blaring of a tsunami siren, signaling that every inmate must return to their cell.

I released the breath I didn't know I was holding and nearly smiled before I caught myself.

"Goodbye, brother."

****

Julian's P.O.V

The room was colder than I remembered it; it seemed that they'd fixed the air conditioning. As I sat on the cold chair freezing my ass off, I suppressed a shiver.

"Where the hell is he?" I growled out of frustration and barely-capped anticipation.

I glanced at the camera hanging at a corner of the cell trained straight on me and wondered if someone was watching and listening to me grumble to myself like a lunatic. But would they blame me?

I'd been waiting for him to show up to the meeting that he had called for the last thirty minutes, tapping my fingers on the metal table in annoyance and seriously contemplating leaving with every passing second. Except that I'd come a long way to just simply head back. And my boss expected me to walk out of this godforsaken place with a representation agreement and my newest client's power of attorney.

Three days ago, I received a rather unexpected message from convicted felon Schneider Cross asking me to represent him in place of his former lawyer. His former lawyer was none other than Christopher Evans, the infamous criminal lawyer working for cartels, the mob and the like, making him infinitely more knowledgeable of playing the law to free even a convicted felon at a maximum-security prison more than anyone. Why he'd ever want me, practically a wet-eared novice, was beyond me. But my boss had jumped at the opportunity to include Schneider, son of infamous mob boss Alaric Cross, to our firm's portfolio. It helped that the 'opportunity' came with a big, fat check.

If I was being completely honest with myself, I wasn't annoyed because I was being kept waiting, or that I was currently in the world's most corrupt and notorious prison, the aptly-named Prison from Hell, but because that request for representation was made specifically for me.

Schneider wanted me, a lawyer with less than five years' experience, to represent and prepare him for his coming parole hearing.

My mind recalled a pair of captivating blue eyes and I nearly shuddered.

The way he'd looked at me...

And while I was being honest with myself, I had to admit that part of the reason why I was here was because I was... curious to know why he chose me specifically when he could have asked for my boss, or kept fucking Christian Evans. Heck, I'd wager that someone like him could get anyone in the world to represent them.

So why me?

The metal door buzzed open and in walked the man I first met on the day I came to release Aiden. His large frame filled the entire door. I'd forgotten how large he was; at what I approximated was six feet three, he easily towered over a great many people and things. When his brilliant blue eyes met and held my dull dark ones, the shudder I had attempted to suppress erupted, spreading goosebumps across my skin in its wake.

My God, he was handsome.

No, not handsome. Beautiful.

He looked genetically engineered in a lab into the image of prime male perfection, his face made to seduce and attract and to be sat on. He had the most beautiful pair of blue eyes I had ever seen sitting under a pair of arched eyebrows. His black hair was unusually long for someone in prison and it glowed under the bright light. I was suddenly consumed by the abrupt urge to run my hands through his hair just to see if it were really as soft as it looked. My eyes traveled down the length of him to his ghastly orange uniform; on anyone else, it would have been tragic, but on him, it looked like a fashion statement. It hugged a body that looked primed to do battle on a moment's notice; he was muscled in places I never knew a guy could have muscles. His rock-hard abs and biceps of steel were clearly defined and outlined by the cotton fabric.

He could easily overpower me and the thought, for some fucking reason, did not scare or at the very least trouble me.

I felt something in me stirring again; whatever the hell it was, it had happened to me before when I first laid eyes on him.

I didn't like it.

I was now even more annoyed than I was before -partly because of my unsolicited reactions toward him.

Get it together. You're on the clock.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Only a few chapters remain until the book finale! Hope you've enjoyed the ride so far! If you'd like to read ahead, consider joining my Patreon to gain early access to The Prison's and almost all my other stories' chapters, exclusive NSFW chapters, bonus The Prison short stories, spicy NSFW artwork made by yours truly, and much much more! The Prison is also complete on my Patreon, and I'm uploading the next book in the series by the title The Cage ;DMy ritoria account is ahead of Tapas/Wattpad by one chapter: https://ritoria.com/en/story/664eb8e9-b625-456c-9898-c9bb8c97461a