Chapter 13 - THE APOLOGY SHE DIDN'T OWE
Sloane Mercer requested another meeting.
This time, Rosalind agreed.
They met in a conference room at Rosalind's attorney's office.
No photographers.
No audience.
No opportunity for spectacle.
Sloane looked different.
Her confidence had faded.
She wore a plain black dress.
Her hands trembled slightly.
Rosalind sat opposite her.
“What do you want to say?”
Sloane swallowed.
“I'm sorry.”
Rosalind waited.
Sloane continued.
“I was cruel. I thought humiliating you would prove that Callum had chosen me.”
She looked down.
“But I was wrong.”
Rosalind studied her.
“Did you know about the Bellwether money?”
Sloane hesitated.
“I knew there was a deal.”
“Did you know the housing project would be harmed?”
Sloane's eyes filled.
“I didn't ask.”
Rosalind nodded.
“That matters.”
Sloane began crying.
“I thought I was going to have everything.”
Rosalind looked at her.
“And what did you think I would have?”
Sloane said nothing.
Rosalind leaned forward.
“You wanted my marriage, my home, and my place beside a man you believed was powerful.”
Sloane lowered her head.
“But you never asked what it cost to stand there.”
Silence.
Sloane whispered:
“Please forgive me.”
Rosalind considered.
Then said:
“I won't spend the rest of my life hating you.”
Sloane looked up hopefully.
“But forgiveness doesn't erase consequences.”
Her expression fell.
Rosalind continued.
“You will answer honestly to the investigators. You will return any money you received improperly. And you will stop treating other women as obstacles to your ambitions.”
Sloane nodded through tears.
Rosalind stood.
“That's all I have to say.”
As she reached the door, Sloane whispered:
“You're stronger than I thought.”
Rosalind turned.
“No.”
She smiled sadly.
May you like
“You simply mistook kindness for weakness.”
Then she left.
