Hi everyone, nothing too heavy here. I just felt like writing something romancey. I almost stuck it in Loving Wives, but there is no cheating and really isn't about that. At 28k words, it isn't short, but I hope it is an easy read.
Thank you to my pre-readers. They make my stories better and help me out of my 'blind spots' (likely future story title). All mistakes are my own.
Anyone participating in sex in this story is over eighteen.
Jailbreak
Hoping for a lifetime sentence.
Chapter 1 -- Doing his time
T-minus 703 days until his planned escape
He was in solitary confinement, again. Again!
The warden blew up and stopped speaking to him over nothing, and it was getting worse. As she climbed higher in her firm, her self-importance seemed to increase exponentially. Making partner three years ago should have been a defining moment and a time of celebration. Instead, it seemed to be the moment when she shut most everyone else out. It was a defining moment for the prisoner also.
Even their two visitors were being neglected, though they never had to go into solitary. No. All her aggressions were directed at the prisoner, and he was fine with that. He would gladly suffer so their visitors didn't have to.
Visitor 1 was about to leave to enroll in college early.
After visitor 1 graduated high-school, the prisoner and warden arranged a 10-day vacation in Italy for all of them to celebrate. The prisoner still had contact with a few colleagues from his early General Electric days, and they helped hook them up with a nice Villa near Florence which they used as their base for their exploration of Italy. It was a spectacular vacation. Even the warden was appreciative and decided to bless him with a few conjugal visits while they were in Italy.
It had pleased Visitor 1 and 2 to see him and the warden getting along so well, but within a week of returning, he was back in solitary, yet again. For the prisoner, that was not unexpected. The warden was sleeping in the guest room and not speaking to him. It seemed like he spent more time in solitary these days than not.
That's okay. The trip to Italy was a mere temporary parole in the grand scheme of things. The prisoner would continue to plan for when he would escape, which would be when Visitor 2 went off to college.
Visitor 1 had grown so tired of the warden's antics that she decided to enroll in college early during the second summer school at the University of Pittsburgh. The warden was adamant that she should enjoy her last summer. Visitor 1 told the prisoner that she simply had to get out of the house.
He understood. If anyone did, he did.
He couldn't quite figure out how it came to be like this. In the early days, his crime was a crime of passion reciprocated in kind by the warden. They seemed so happy. That was just over twenty years ago when she was just finishing up law school. His incarceration day was one of the happiest of his life. Everyone had expected him to serve a lifetime sentence, including himself. No longer. Somehow the crime of passion had changed into one of premeditation, for which he was being thoroughly punished.
Now? His escape was planned. He continued to count the days.
Unfortunately, the strain inside the prison was such that it had hurt his relationship with Visitor 1. She couldn't understand why he didn't stand up to the warden more often. The answer was that the warden would likely use her law firm to keep custody of Visitor 2 and he was not as prepared at that time. He was prepared now.
Financially, he would be fine. He and the warden had done very well professionally, and their McMansion north of Pittsburgh, cars, retirement accounts, college funds, and designated savings accounts, like the vacation house fund, were fully funded. His consulting business was doing well. Since it has so few assets and only a handful of employees, the supposed value of her partnership would be valued higher. This meant she would likely not try to claim any of his business, lest he claim an equal portion of her partnership.
He would move out because he didn't want the oversized house that was a monument to the warden's success. However, he would not mind her paying him for his half of the house in the divorce. At almost nine-hundred thousand dollars, his share would allow him to buy something nice-enough whenever he decided to buy again.
Fortunately, the warden couldn't really prevent his work furloughs, which required him to travel and were necessary for his business. They were a welcome reprieve from his prison.
His interaction with other prisoners, wardens, and those looking to become prisoners or wardens was enlightening to him. Given his current situation, he couldn't understand any non-prisoner hoping to become one. Also, how did potential wardens learn their occupation? From other wardens? He never understood the transformation.
His own parents had converted their prison into an RV and were traveling the country, seemingly happy together. It was rare that his own father was ever in solitary. He wondered if he was doing something wrong.
He sighed to himself, "703 more days."
Chapter 2 - Making a break for it
T-minus 372 days until his planned escape
The following May, two weeks before the end of the school year and the ensuing graduation. Visitor 2 had finished his junior year and was telling his parents about a graduation party at a graduate's house, and since he was a good friend, he was invited.
The warden did not want him to go. She said, "I don't think that is a good idea. There will probably be a lot of alcohol there. I know they can get kind of wild."
The prisoner spoke up, "If the parents are there, I don't see a problem. Even if they weren't, I trust our son. When has he ever done anything that would cause us to question his judgment?"
She replied, "Remember when he got home late from that football game?"
"Oh, that's ridiculous. The bus returning to the high school was late, and he called us to let us know."
"Still, I just don't think it's a good idea."
Visitor 2 spoke, "Come on, Mom. All of my friends will be there. It's in the Lake McCleod subdivision, so it's only two miles from here. I'm not going to drink, nor do anything stupid."
"No."
He said, "You know, Mom. Some days I really hate you."
She simply dug in her heels and replied, "Well, when you have children of your own, then you get to make those decisions."
Visitor 2 was blown away by what happened next.
"It's okay, Matt. You can go. Whether she trusts you or not, I do. I know you're a responsible young man. You've always made me proud."
His son and the warden stared at him in disbelief. Was he defying the warden?
He was. This was a simple request and like everything else in their lives, the warden decided to make a decision that allowed her to keep tight control of everyone and everything, even if by doing so she made everyone miserable. The prisoner had decided that he'd had enough. He had wanted to keep the family together until their son had graduated high school, but it was clear that he shouldn't do that any longer. He worried that he had already waited too long.
The infrequent calls from their daughter were a good indication that she didn't want anything to do with her parents. He'd be damned if he contributed more to their son feeling the same way once he had left also.
The warden said, "We both have to agree to this, and I don't, so he's not going."
"Actually, I don't remember that as part of our wedding vows, nor as a clause on the birth certificate. If you can show me that clause on either, Counselor, then I'll reconsider. Our son is in the top five in his class and in the top five percent on his SATs. He's done everything he's supposed to do while in school. He's earned this...more than this, actually. He's going, and that's final."
He could see the warden's face turning red and clenching her fists, which meant she was about to explode yet again. Turning to Matt, he said, "Go ahead and make plans to attend. You might want to go out for a little while. I think your mother and I need to talk for a few minutes."
Cautiously, he was pleased that he was being allowed to go to the party. He hoped his mother didn't change his father's mind. Merely the fact that his father, forcefully, took a stand against his mother was shocking. He hoped the house was still in-one-piece when he returned.
As soon as the door to the garage closed, the warden started in on the prisoner. Explicative after explicative were hurled his way to try and demean him and shove him back into submission. That wasn't going to work this time. The prisoner was tired of being beaten and was about to bite back, though not by trying to argue with the warden. That would be pointless and a waste of air. No. He would simply leave, and begin executing his plans to leave permanently, a year earlier than what he had intended. Her insults were bouncing off him as he grabbed his laptop and walked out the door only a few minutes after his son.
_______________
Sipping on a beer, in the café at a nearby grocery store, he turned off the location sharing on his phone that would have allowed his wife to see where he was. From there he began searching for homes or apartments in his son's highly desired school district. He could buy a place, but that would take a while, and wasn't sure that he was sticking around after his son graduated.
Because of the warden, most of their 'friends' were through the country club. However, he doubted they were the kinds of friends you could count on if they were really needed. They were more like socialites, good for talking about others and patting themselves on the back. At best, they might help you land a job or recommend a financial advisor or nail salon.
He grew up five hours away in Cincinnati, Ohio, but didn't really want to move back there. He had expected to have more time to investigate his post-prison options, and he guessed he did since he wouldn't go anywhere until his son was finished with high school.
He found a small house for rent on a large lot that was adjacent to a small lake about a half-mile from North Park, the large public park a few miles from his home and the high school, and almost twenty miles north of Pittsburgh. It was in the school district, barely. He liked being so close to the park because it had a five-mile road surrounding the lake that made for beautiful runs, and occasionally the female scenery jogging around the lake was nice, too.
He called the listing agent and drove over there immediately. He was told the reason it was still available was that it was priced at the upper end of the market.
Thankfully, he could afford it, so he signed a one-year lease with an option for a second year, and just like that, he was soon to be out of his prison.
Holy shit! He couldn't believe it. Free at last.
Well, two more weeks until he would escape and take his son with him.
He truly believed it was the right decision, but he couldn't help but wonder about the fallout. He wasn't worried about himself. He would be fine. He hoped his kids would be.
