Chapter 152: Valete
After hanging up, I returned to my cell and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. My hands shook as I began to write, but the words came easily now. I’d been thinking about what I needed to say for weeks.
My dearest Diane,
I know I have no right to write to you again, no right to ask for even a moment of your time or attention. But I need you to know some things before it’s too late.
First, I want you to know how deeply sorry I am for everything I’ve done. Not just the affairs, not just the financial manipulation, but for the fundamental way I failed you as a husband and as a man. You deserved so much better than what I gave you.
I need to tell you about Maxwell Richardson. He was the one who connected me with Jackson Torres, the man who killed Sophie. When I called Maxwell in my rage, wanting to hurt you through Sophie, he was the one who made it possible. And when Jackson became a liability after Sophie’s death, Maxwell was the one who had him killed.
I’m telling you this because Maxwell is still out there, still dangerous. He has connections throughout the criminal underworld, and he won’t hesitate to eliminate anyone who threatens him. Please be careful, Diane. Please protect our children.
I also need you to know that I’ve been keeping a secret from you. There’s an offshore account in the Cayman Islands that contains approximately $50.3 million. It’s money from before we were married, investments I made that I never told you about. The account information is with Richard Holbrook, and I’ve instructed him to transfer everything to you after he had taken his 20 percent from it.
Use this money for Dylan and Danielle. Give them the life they deserve, the education they need, the opportunities I’ll never be able to provide. And please, take some for yourself. You’ve sacrificed so much because of my mistakes, even though I know you have built your own success and your doing so well.
I tried to stay strong in here, tried to survive so I could at least maintain some connection with our children. But I can’t anymore, Diane. The weight of what I’ve done, the guilt over Sophie’s death, the knowledge that I’ll never be able to make amends—it’s too much.
I want you to know that you were the best thing that ever happened to me. Loving you, being loved by you, creating Dylan and Danielle with you—those were the only good things I ever did. And I destroyed all of it because I was too broken to accept that I deserved happiness.
Please tell our children that their father loved them, even if he couldn’t show it properly. Tell them that they are the most precious things in the world, and that every day they live good lives is a victory over the darkness I brought into this world.