From Prison To Power

Chapter 003 – A Cold Welcome

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The air outside the prison walls hit Glenn Avery like a thunderclap of freedom, sharp and invigorating.

It wasn’t just fresh—it was alive, and for the first time in years, he could feel the sun properly kiss his skin. No rusted bars, no grimed ceilings, just open skies.

He stood at the edge of the dock, having disembarked from the final transport: a speedboat driven by a jittery prison warden who looked ready to dive into the water at the slightest wrong move from him. Glenn ignored the man’s twitching hands and trembling lips.

He took a deep inhale of the crisp sea breeze.

“Out. Finally.” His voice was low but intense.

“I, Glenn Avery, am free after all this damned time.” He clenched his fists, veins bulging from the tension beneath his skin. There was fire in his eyes, but also… anticipation. He scanned the desolate coastline.

“Wait… Where’s the welcoming party?” His brows creased in confusion. “Where’s... my wife?”

Then, like fate’s cruel joke lining up the punchline, a sleek white BMW coupe purred its way toward him, and seeing it, Glenn’s expression lit up like a Christmas tree.

“That’s gotta be her! My girl never fails me!” He laughed under his breath and sprinted toward the vehicle, his arms ready to catch the love of his life.

The car stopped, and the driver’s door opened.

Out stepped not his wife, but a woman with the energy of a nuclear warhead.

Her chin tilted upward so high it might snap, her heels clicking with deliberate pomp.

She strutted like she owned not just the road—but the world. Dressed in a razor-sharp designer suit and dark shades, her presence was more suffocating than the prison walls he had just escaped.

Glenn slowed, a dark cloud forming over his head.

‘Who the hell is this peacock?’

She strutted up to him and sized him from head to toe, her upper lip twitching in clear disgust.

She didn’t speak immediately—only examined him like a roach had crawled out of her Gucci purse.

“Glenn Avery, I assume?” She finally spoke, her voice dripping with distaste, every syllable sharper than a dagger.

“Uh… yeah?” Glenn replied, frowning hard.

“Mm. I figured.” She flipped open her purse with an elegant sneer and daintily retrieved a folded paper, holding it by the corner like it was radioactive waste.

“Here. Don’t touch my hand with the prison body of yours.”

Glenn blinked. His confusion deepened.

“What’s this?”

“Can’t you read?” she snapped, clearly annoyed she even had to be here.

Glenn couldn’t be bothered with her, so he unfolded the paper. In the following second, however, his breath caught.

“...Divorce?”

“Obviously,” she replied like she was speaking to a toddler. “It’s from my boss. Were you expecting a kiss? Maybe a parade?”

Glenn stood there, stunned, his eyes flicking back to the paper as though it might change with another look.

“She… she’s divorcing me? Now?”

The woman rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn’t fall out.

“Of course. And honestly? It's overdue. My boss is about to marry Young Master James of the Koch family—ever heard of the Koch family? No? Let me educate you. They could bankrupt a nation before breakfast and buy it back for dessert. So yeah. She’s upgrading.”

Before Glenn could say a word, she shoved another slip of paper into his chest.

“And this—this is your thank-you gift. One million dollars. Compensation for taking the fall and rotting in that jailhole in her place. Personally, I told her she was being overly generous.”

Glenn’s jaw dropped. His hands trembled.

“Wait… wait, what? She actually gifted me a divorce letter on my release day? And this—this money’s for what I did?”

The woman let out a scoff that could freeze lava.

“You seriously didn’t think she was going to wait for you, did you? Look at you—drenched in prison sweat and smelling like a cellblock. My boss is sipping champagne in penthouses now.”

As she turned back toward her car, she paused. Pivoted slowly, like a final boss.

“One more thing, inmate,” she said, her voice now colder than the Arctic. “Forget everything. If you ever breathe a word about your past with her, the Koch family will erase your entire bloodline. Got it?”

She didn’t wait for a response. She sauntered to her car, slammed the door, and floored the gas like she was peeling out of a crime scene.

Glenn didn’t chase her.

He couldn’t.

He just stood there. Frozen. His mind was an exploding whirlwind of shock, betrayal, confusion, and disbelief.

‘Marrying someone else… not even meeting me after all these years away… after I took the fall… a million-dollar goodbye…?’

‘I was her shield. Her sacrifice. And now I’m discarded like trash?’

Minutes passed. The world moved, but Glenn didn’t. He was a statue—until...

VROOOM!

VROOOOOM!

VROOOOOOOM!

The ground trembled as a fleet of roaring engines filled the air. Glenn looked up slowly.

Descending upon him was a convoy of black, customized luxury SUVs—each one worth more than the divorce settlement he'd just been slapped with. The vehicles halted in unison with military precision, and the doors swung open.

Out stepped nearly a dozen men in jet-black suits and designer sunglasses.

Their presence radiated power and lethal professionalism. One of them, clearly the lead, stepped forward and bowed respectfully.

“Master Glenn. We have prepared the Presidential Suite at Imperial Zenith Hotel, a five-star hotel, for your arrival.”

Glenn, still dazed and reeling from what had just happened, simply nodded his head and stepped into the nearest SUV without a word.

The door shut behind him with a satisfying thud, and as the convoy peeled away in style, one thought rang loud and clear in Glenn’s head:

‘This… isn’t over.’