RAFAEL
I watched the entire exchange from the upper balcony, hidden in the shadows like the predator I was. Isabella’s mother was exactly what I expected; a greedy, manipulative snake wearing the mask of a remorseful parent. The way she cried those crocodile tears, the calculated way she reached for Isabella like she actually gave a damn… it disgusted me. I didn’t need to hear every word to know what she was after. Money, leverage, a way back into her daughter’s life now that she smelled luxury.
What surprised me more was Isabella.
She looked terrified. Not just uncomfortable, terrified. She kept trying to get her mother out of the villa as fast as possible, voice shaking, body tense. She even offered to pay for a hotel just to make her leave. The girl who had once begged me to let her
