Chapter 10 - Home in the Hills
Six months later, the morning sun broke over the Catskill mountains, flooding the sprawling pastures of the Moretti estate with golden light.
Tessa Rivera stood on the expansive stone patio, a steaming mug of coffee in her hand, watching the valley below come alive with activity. The old Guardian Shipping jacket was long gone, replaced by a tailored canvas field jacket suited for her new role as head of logistics and animal sanctuary operations for the entire Moretti estate.
Heavy, familiar footfalls echoed across the flagstone patio behind her.
Caesar trotted up beside her, his coat shining like silk, completely healed from the trauma of his ordeal at Pine Ridge. He nudged her elbow gently with his wet nose, spilling a single drop of coffee onto her boot.
Tessa laughed, setting her mug down on the stone railing and scratching the mastiff right behind his velvety ears. "All right, big guy. Let's go check the perimeter."
From the open French doors of the study, Victor Moretti watched them with a quiet, satisfied smile, raising his own coffee mug in a silent toast to the girl who had walked into an impossible nightmare with zero experience, zero fear, and an uncanny ability to hear the truth beneath the noise.
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The past was buried, the syndicate was restructured, and for the first time in his life, Victor knew that his most valuable assets—both human and canine—were in unbreakable, fiercely loyal hands.
Tessa turned and walked down the stone steps into the sunlit meadow, Caesar bounding happily at her side, stepping forward into a future where nothing could ever hurt them again.
