There wasn't much point in denying what has happened now, Vance realized. Jail. He wasn't sure that things could get much worse. He had lived in fear of prison as a child, and most of teenage and young adult life had been spent trying to protect himself from even a chance of incarceration (well, except for all of the crimes, of course, but that was just business). Now that he was here, it wasn't exactly like the nightmare-inducing catacomb of torture that he had imagined, it was just...bad. Really bad, though. It was dark, it stank terribly, there was no privacy, and absolutely no control. Every move, every meal, every washing up, was mandated to him. Vance had no freedom of any kind, and it was this realization that threatened to break him.

First on his mind was getting out, of course, but there was nothing unique about that. It was probably the top concern for everyone there. But unlike many others, Vance had the means to make it happen. After all, money wouldn't be a problem, he just needed to get to it, or have someone else get to it. He could go out on bail, and then, well, he'd just skip town. But Vance had been there for four days and nobody had come yet. For most people, it would be a little odd to not receive any visitors of any kind. Why, it was almost like everyone had abandoned him at the first sign of trouble. Oh, right...Vance chuckled to himself a bit, in spite of his situation. He could hardly be upset about it - at least, not upset at anyone but himself. All the money in the world wouldn't be able to help him like this. The guards had surely heard dozens, if not hundreds, of stories from inmates with "rich uncles" or "buried wealth" or some other farcical way of securing their temporary release, and Vance wasn't stupid enough to believe that they'd be interested in hearing about his resources...only seeing would be believing.

So what could he do? Vance wondered, and paced, and chewed the inside of his cheek in frustration. One nice part, if he had to identify something, was that he had plenty of time for thinking. His cellmate was typically pretty quiet and unquestioning as well, so it was almost like being by himself at all times, apart from the constant monitoring. What he concluded was that he had to make use of the resources he had around - and that wasn't much. Oh, he could hope for an opportunity for a breakout, but that seemed unlikely, and even if it did happen, he'd have a hard time getting to his money and getting away if he was on the run. He needed bail. If nobody was going to come to him, Vance reasoned, he'd use someone who was going out.

Vance first thought about using a guard. Sure that the guard wouldn't believe him, and might even beat him for bothering him with nonsense, he was hesitant, but thought that maybe he could get past the disbelief part if he flipped the script. First, he could tell the guard where to go retrieve some of his stash, with the promise that if he found it where Vance had said, he'd let him out to get more. It was a desperate plan, maybe too desperate. There were just too many ways that it could go wrong. The guard might take the money and do nothing, and Vance would be completely powerless to do anything about it. The power dynamic in here was all wrong. Maybe he could use his cellmate? Vance was bound to be here longer, he reasoned, so if the other prisoner got his trial first and was freed, then Vance could possibly have him help out.

That night, he started talking. Vance had his cellmate, who turned out to be named Ravi, had been content enough to leave each other to their own thoughts and miseries, but Ravi wasn't against a conversation when Vance initiated it. They started to swap stories, or the "how did you get here?" variety. Ravi claimed, as so many do, that his incarceration was "just one big misunderstanding" and that he was innocent. Vance hoped it was true, because it would drastically improve his own options if so. Vance on the other hand held no such notions of his innocence; he jokingly said his issue was more one of "just one big understanding" - he positioned himself as a rich business owner who was on the hook for bad things some others in his company had done, and that while he didn't like it, he understood that legally that was the way things were supposed to go. Still, Vance mused, it was incredibly frustrating that he couldn't get access to his people or his money, and get out of there.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Ravi asked him if he was a "good guy" wrongly accused, who was just rolling with the punches, or did he really own what happened? Vance thought, well, he had little to lose at this point, and it seemed that he knew the answer Ravi was looking for. "No, I'm no good guy. A bad guy I suppose, but so be it. I mean, almost everyone is seen as a bad guy by somebody, I imagine. I don't let that worry me. The only real problem is that bad guys lead a pretty irritating life looking over their shoulder. The payoff is big, if you're willing to deal with that hassle, and I always was." With that thought implanted in Ravi's mind, the hook was baited, and Vance waited for Ravi to make the next move.

Sure enough, Ravi took the bait. He asked Vance what it would be worth to him if Ravi could help him secure bail, maybe even make a getaway, assuming that he got out before Vance. Vance quoted a number, which was...high. Much higher than Ravi was hoping for, and Vance realized that he might have an issue. Maybe Ravi wouldn't believe that he had the money! So he made Ravi an offer. Vance told Ravi that if he got out first, he should come back to the jail to visit. When he did so, Vance would tell him where to find a little bit of money. The worst thing that could happen was that Vance lost the money. The best case was that Ravi could see Vance was telling the truth, use that money to get him out, and get the rest of his reward. It was the same play as the guard, really, but hopefully the time spent working his charm on Ravi would improve Vance's odds. There was no downside for Ravi, so of course he agreed. Now it just became a waiting game to see if he would really make it out before Vance or not.

But then something very interesting, and very unexpected, occurred - Vance got a visitor. Even stranger was who had come to visit, as it was someone he hadn't seen in years, and that he didn't expect to see again. "Hello, Mother." Vance said calmly, trying to figure out what would have brought her here. She clearly wasn't distraught at the thought of her son in jail, so there was an angle; he just needed to figure out what the angle was. "Vance...well, I must say," she began, "I had thought you were doing much better than this. But look at you now. What happened?" He gave her the same version of the story that he had told Ravi - she lifted a single eyebrow in disbelief and suspicion a few different times, but said nothing until the telling was done.

"I see. Well, if that's the way that you want to tell it, up to you. The real question is, what are you going to do to get out? The guards say you haven't had any other visitors. No lackeys, well-wishers, anyone to help you? If I were you, I'd only be thinking about bail. Maybe you're not, though - do you like it here so much?" Vance wasn't sure how she had found out what was happening with him, or how closely she must have been tracking him over the years, but she had always been a well-informed woman. It seemed clear from her opening gambit that she was looking for money, that she knew he had it, and that she wanted the upper hand in the conversation, so she was going to wait for Vance to ask for help. Well, he reasoned, better the devil you know...and it wasn't like he had a lot of better options. He sighed to himself, resigned, and prepared for the negotiation.