"Sir? Are you ready?"

Kristoph opened his eyes.

It took him a second to adjust to the darkness. Pale light streamed past the bars of his cell door, casting a grim shadow on the dusty cement floor.

A scruffy face bobbed up and peered into the cell. Kristoph smirked.

"Just a moment, Martinez."

Kristoph stood up, straightening his deep lavender suit. With any luck, the prison dirt would be easy to brush off. Anything was better than the drab inmate garb he had been forced to wear for the past…well, he had lost track of time himself.

"Please, Mr. Gavin. We need to hurry up. I'm opening the door now."

The steel door creaked open, yielding a sliver of space just wide enough for Kristoph to slip through. Once he did, Kristoph found himself face to face with a portly guard.

"The suit was an excellent touch," Kristoph said. The guard furiously wiped the sweat off his brow, gaze darting around as if expecting an alarm to go off any minute.

"Right, Mr. Gavin. I brought the cart." The guard gestured to the silver trolley down the hall. "I checked this morning, I'm pretty sure you can squeeze in the cabinet. If not, we'll try again tomorrow—"

Kristoph pushed up his glasses, and they flashed from the glare of the lights above. "No. We will succeed on the first attempt. Won't we, Martinez?"

The guard seemed to sweat even more profusely with those words. He fidgeted with the keys and looked away. "Y-Yes, Mr. Gavin."

"Very good." Kristoph cast the guard a pleasant smile. All his effort would be worth nothing if Martinez remained this agitated. "Don't worry. My younger brother will no doubt be sympathetic enough to sue the insurance company on your wife's behalf once I speak to him. Not to mention how grateful he will be."

"Please, sir. I'm only doing this for them."

Kristoph tilted his head, still smiling. "Of course. With my brother's help, I will make sure your family is rid of debt. I've told you of my previous cases, have I not?"

Martinez nodded, swallowing heavily. "Coolest defense in the West."

"Correct," Kristoph said. The ex-defense attorney looked beyond the guard and fixed his gaze on the gleaming dinner cart. His ticket to freedom. "Shall we?"

Martinez jolted. A gleam in the guard's eye showed that Kristoph's affirmation had invigorated the foolish man. "Yes. Let's go, sir!"

For an instant, Kristoph glanced back at his old cell. Fury bubbled deep in his gut, and a twisted chuckle threatened to escape from his lips. They had thought that was the end of him, didn't they?

He closed the cell door, taking in his last breath of musty prison air.

No one would ever underestimate him again.