Chapter 86: A Rotten Apple?
The car stopped in front of a building Milo had never seen before. He looked around.
Then he looked at Ramon, who had brought him there, his face gloomy and sad. He couldn’t believe that in just one day, Salvatore had cast him aside.
Ramon just stood there, shrugging his shoulders as if he didn’t know what had actually happened.
But at least the man had sent him to a nice place. It looked like an apartment hotel located in the city, maybe twenty minutes from the market they had visited yesterday.
A clean, modern building with a glass front door and a small lobby visible through it. Not large or flashy. Just a solid, well-maintained building on a quiet street.
Milo hadn’t brought anything. Salvatore had simply told him to get out, and he’d been so sad and scared that he hadn’t thought twice when Ramon told him to leave the mansion.
His heart ached terribly now. It was worse than when Nero had slapped him or ordered him to strip naked.
Whatever happened, he had no control over it. He could only accept it, even though it had all happened so fast. He wasn’t ready for this abandonment.
He felt like a lost puppy.
Ramon led him up to the third floor and opened apartment 304 with a key, which he handed to Milo without explanation. He told Milo the building had a manager on the ground floor if anything needed fixing.
Then he left.
Milo stood in the doorway and looked inside the apartment.
It was clean and fully furnished. He walked inside and took in the beautiful place he now had.
Inside, there was a small kitchen, a sofa, and a bed visible through the open bedroom door. The windows faced the street. There was a lamp on the table that was already on, which meant someone might have come before him to prepare the place.
He sat down on the sofa carefully.
He sat there for a long time.
He didn’t understand what was happening. He had been dragged out of his room, put in a car, and driven here, and Salvatore hadn’t said a single word to him before he left.
Not an explanation or an accusation. Nothing. Just Roderick appearing at his door, telling him to get ready, and a car waiting outside.
Milo had asked twice if he could speak to Salvatore.
Ramon said nothing both times.
He looked around the apartment again. It was a decent place. Better than his room in Hartley’s mansion. But that wasn’t the point.
The point was that he’d been moved here without being told why, and the last thing Salvatore had said to him before this was to stay in the room.
Milo was sure Salvatore thought he’d stolen the box. That was why the man had kicked him out like this.
He pressed the heels of his hands against his knees and stared at the floor. His chest felt tight. He felt like he wanted to vomit.
He hadn’t taken the box. He hadn’t taken the photo. He had told Salvatore the truth completely and clearly, and the man had looked at him in a way that made him feel like he was lying, and then this had happened.
Maybe Salvatore had decided his explanation wasn’t enough. Maybe finding the box in Milo’s room was enough to accuse him, regardless of what Milo said about it.
Milo lay back on the sofa and looked at the ceiling.
He had no way to prove anything from here.
He wanted to cry. He didn’t want to leave the mansion.
He loved everything there. Teo, the kitchen in the morning, the training field, and Maureen setting food on the table. The kind staff and helpful people.
He’d only been there for a few weeks. It wasn’t a long time. He shouldn’t feel the loss so deeply.
But he felt it deeply. It was so painful. He’d become too attached.
He closed his eyes.
He walked over and lay down on the bed.
He wanted to go back to sleep. But he couldn’t. He just lay there with his eyes closed, trying to think practically about what came next, but he kept failing to get past the fact that he didn’t know if Salvatore thought he was a thief.
That part bothered him because it wasn’t true.
Damn... Why is your life so unlucky? Milo thought.
He was just about to feel happy, and something had taken it away from him. Just one night.
He turned onto his side and looked at the wall.
He hoped Teo was all right. He missed the boy.
***
In the mansion,
Salvatore was in his office. No one dared to disturb him.
His phone was in his hand, but he’d been staring at it for the past few minutes. So many things to sort out. And now these trivial matters were getting on his nerves.
He then looked at the empty box sitting in the corner of the desk. His chest tightened again.
Bastard. Who the hell stole the photo?
He knew someone had taken the box and the photo. And he knew one thing for certain.
Milo hadn’t taken the photograph.
He was almost certain of that even before he went back to question Teo, and what Teo had said in the kitchen, the hesitation, the red eyes, the way the boy answered each question a half-second too late, had shifted him from almost certain to fully certain.
Teo had framed Milo. But he hadn’t said so directly; the way he phrased it made it clear enough.
And Teo certainly hadn’t acted alone. He knew the boy well enough. He wasn’t that evil. He wouldn’t have come up with this on his own.
Someone had put him up to it.
That someone had also taken the photo out of the box. Whoever that person was, he hoped they still had the photo, otherwise...
He would kill everyone connected to it. He didn’t care.
Salvatore placed his phone face down on the desk.
But now, he needed to do something.
He needed Teo to tell him the whole truth. The boy had stopped short of revealing it in the kitchen, and Salvatore had let him go without pressing further because pushing a frightened eight-year-old past a certain point produced noise rather than information.
He needed the boy to come to him on his own.
That was why he had moved Milo out.
Not because he believed Milo had done it. He needed Teo to see the consequence of what he had set in motion.
He needed the boy to sit with it overnight and feel the weight of it and understand that staying quiet had a real cost.
In the morning, when the reality of Milo being gone had settled over the house, he expected Teo to come to him.
If he didn’t come, it would tell Salvatore something important about the kind of person the boy was going to become.
He didn’t want to raise a rotten apple.
Salvatore picked up his phone again and put it back down. He was still so angry.
He didn’t like doing it this way. Milo had told him the truth and was now sitting in an apartment in the city, not knowing why, and that was an uncomfortable thing to have done to someone who hadn’t deserved it.
He would fix it. As soon as he had what he needed from Teo, he would bring Milo back and explain everything.
But he needed the photo first. And he needed to teach the boy some lessons.
Whoever had taken it out of the box had done it because the photo had value as leverage. He could tell who could have done such an evil thing.
The whole thing was just to put the box in Milo’s room. It was only meant to drag the young man down.
If not Felix, maybe a guard held a grudge against Milo. The problem was that not all guards dared to enter his room.
Or maybe a servant who didn’t like Milo. But why?
The answer lay with Teo. So he would wait for it.
Salvatore sighed, made a few calls, and set things in motion. His mind was always working. He simply sent Joe to handle the situation.
And then he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in!"
It was Teo.
The boy was pale as a sheet and walked inside. He stopped in front of the desk.
Salvatore put down the phone, waiting.
Teo swallowed hard.
"What is it?" asked Salvatore. He expected the boy to tell him the truth.
Teo trembled. "Salvatore... Why did you kick Milo out?"
"Because he stole. I hate liars, and he lied to me. I’m going to kill him tonight."
Kill him?
Teo swallowed hard. He was terrified. He looked at Salvatore with red eyes. "Salvatore, please forgive Milo. I’m sure he’s not a bad person. Please... Don’t kill him..."
His voice trembled. He wanted to cry.
"No, he has to pay the price for stealing my precious thing. He even lost the photo that was inside."
Teo gulped. He hadn’t expected things to turn out like this.
But he didn’t want to be killed either. If he told Salvatore the truth now, he and Felix would be killed.
Oh, he was so scared. He couldn’t breathe.
He dropped to his knees. He looked up at Salvatore. He would do anything he could to save all of them, including himself.
"Please don’t kill Milo, please..." Teo cried.
Salvatore looked at him expressionlessly. "Get out now. I’m not in the mood."
Teo cried even harder. He wished that man would just vanish.
But no.
Salvatore glared at him. "Get out."
Teo was too scared. He trembled as he stood up and walked hesitantly outside.
Salvatore looked so disappointed.
