Sloane’s Version of Love
Chapter 10 - Sloane’s Version of Love
Sloane requested a private meeting before the guardianship hearing.
Daniel agreed with attorneys present.
Her engagement ring remained on her finger.
“I love you,” she said.
Daniel believed she believed it.
“Then why did you do this?”
“Your mother hated me.”
“She refused to give you her house.”
“She undermined everything I built.”
Sloane described growing up poor beside a mother who cleaned luxury homes. She watched wealthy families discard furniture worth more than her family earned in a year.
New Beginnings began as genuine charity.
Then donors wanted dramatic content.
Facilities wanted publicity.
Sloane learned that sadder “before” images produced larger donations.
She began arranging emotions the way stylists arranged lighting.
When she met Daniel, she saw stability, admiration, and a family name that could turn her organization into a national brand.
Then Evelyn questioned the accounts.
“She looked at me like I was stealing,” Sloane said.
“You were.”
“I was moving money to keep the foundation alive.”
“You moved it to your brother.”
“He provided services.”
“He sedated my mother.”
Sloane’s tears became anger.
“She was never going to accept me.”
“So you decided acceptance was unnecessary if you could obtain control.”
Daniel removed his engagement ring.
The wedding was canceled.
Sloane looked at the ring on the table.
“You are choosing an old woman who will die over the life we could have had.”
May you like
Daniel stood.
“She is my mother. But even if she were a stranger, what you did would still be wrong.”
