THE TOWERS FAMILY SAGA
        EPISODE 48
Robert sat in the
facility library,
the smell of old
paper and floor wax
filling the room.
He wasn't there to
read law books;
he was there to teach.
A small group of
younger inmates sat
around the table,
their faces hardened.
"You built the city,"
one said, his voice
a mix of mockery.
"How does it feel
to sit in the dirt?"
Robert looked at
his hands, calloused
from the laundry.
"The skyline was an
illusion," he said.
"The dirt is the
only thing that
stays under your
feet when the checks
stop clearing."
He opened a notebook
and began to explain
structure, not made
of steel, but of
accountability.
He told them about
the Rim and the
slow poison of a lie.
"A mistake is just
a stone," he said.
"But a lie is a hole
you dig until you
can't see the sun."
The room was silent
as the former titan
spoke of ruin.
He wasn't lecturing
from a height;
he was speaking from
the same pit.
The radical honesty
was catching fire.
One by one, the men
began to speak of
their hidden ledgers.
Robert listened.
He realized he was
still a builder.
He was helping men
find the truth before
it buried them.
The guard watched.
He saw the way the
men looked at 44192.
Not as a billionaire.
As a survivor.

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