Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Could Have Walked Away
Sloan had a chance to leave.
She didn't.
Rafe wanted to know why.
“You could have finished your investigation and disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because you're not your father.”
Rafe looked away.
Sloan explained that her father had once believed every Castellano was guilty.
She had spent years believing the same.
Then she watched Rafe protect servants.
She watched him refuse to punish Marco, a guard who had made mistakes.
She watched him pay medical expenses for employees without telling anyone.
He wasn't innocent of everything.
But he wasn't the monster her father had described.
Rafe listened quietly.
Then he asked:
“Do you still hate my family?”
Sloan answered honestly.
“I hate what was done to mine.”
That distinction mattered.
Rafe nodded.
Meanwhile, Elena revealed that Alessandro had been contacting her through a former employee named Victor.
Victor had disappeared six months earlier.
Sloan tracked his last known address.
The apartment was empty.
But one wall contained photographs.
Rafe.
Margarite.
Elena.
And Sloan.
The final photograph was different.
It showed Rafe's childhood home.
A red circle marked one window.
Sloan stared.
“That's where your father disappeared.”
Rafe nodded.
“It's been abandoned for twelve years.”
Sloan shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed to the photograph.
“The curtains are different.”
Rafe looked closer.
May you like
Someone had been inside recently.
The abandoned house wasn't abandoned anymore.
