Milo stood on the gravel of the construction site, the dull, continuous vibration of the heavy machinery humming through the soles of his shoes. He stared at the deep clay trenches, his mind processing Salvatore's words.
For years inside the Hartley mansion, Milo had been treated as an object, a piece of broken property kept in the dark to be used and discarded at a master's whim.
He had never known what it felt like to be counted. To have a powerful man look at him and see a future, not just a body to possess, but a partner to govern multi-million-dollar structures beside him. It was an intensely satisfying, overwhelming feeling.
He didn't know how to express his feelings. He was just happy.
Salvatore pulled his phone from his pocket, his thumb swiping across the glass screen to open an email file. It was the file Roderick had brought that morning.
