Hollowgate Rules
Three weeks earlier, Maeve had arrived at Hollowgate with one small bag, two old bruises, and a reputation already waiting for her.
Women who had never seen her before knew her name by dinner. They knew about the scar beside her mouth. They knew about the tattoos dark around her throat. They knew she had refused to speak during her sentencing except to say her sister was safe now.
They did not know the rest.
They did not know Maeve had spent ten years counting cash for men who smiled at weddings and used frightened girls as debt. They did not know she had kept copies of names, dates, and favors in her head because paper could be stolen and phones could be broken. They did not know she had pleaded guilty to one charge because the alternative was letting her younger sister stand alone in court against people who could reach her outside.
Tasha Briggs knew none of that either.
Tasha only knew weakness when it was visible and profit when it was small. Extra sugar. Phone favors. A blanket. Half a tray. A quiet corner. Hollowgate gave women very little, and Tasha made even that feel rented.
The officers had learned to call it keeping the wing calm.
Maeve called it theft with witnesses.
Her first warning came from Ruby Bell, nineteen years old, remanded and terrified, with bitten nails and a habit of apologizing before anyone spoke. Ruby slid onto the bench opposite Maeve one morning and whispered without raising her eyes.
"Don't sit there when Tasha comes in."
"Why?" Maeve asked.
"Because it's hers when she wants it."
"Is your tray hers too?"
Ruby's throat moved. She said nothing.
That answer was enough.
Over the next week, Maeve watched. She watched women move their cups away before Tasha asked. She watched Jules collect cigarettes that were not hers. She watched Priya laugh too loudly at jokes she did not think were funny. She watched an officer turn his head each time Tasha's hand landed on a table.
Maeve did not challenge her then.
A challenge without proof was just noise. Noise became punishment. Punishment became another story the prison could file under inmate behavior.
So Maeve waited.
May you like
Not because she was afraid.
Because she had learned long ago that the right silence could be sharper than any threat.
