Chapter Four

1x04 - Just One Kiss

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"What a waste."

And it was a waste. Oh, not of the Hamiltons. No, they were the products of generations of money and arrogance. Whatever redeeming features that they might have had had long ago been destroyed by their circumstances, leaving only a sense of entitlement and a moral code that was devoid of any actual morality.

Nor did he feel any pity or remorse for Paul. If not for his greed and envy, none of this would have happened. In fact, Horatio felt nothing but disgust for the man: he had betrayed a sacred trust, selling the person he should have protected for a meaningless trinket. The proverbial 30 pieces of silver, as it were.

But Estevan. Estevan had been a hard-working young man in the prime of his life. Now, all that potential had been destroyed, that bright future snuffed out, in a meaningless and futile effort to protect the reputations of two wealthy monsters masquerading as respectable human beings.

And Jane. A bright, intelligent, beautiful young woman with her entire life before her. Emotionally and physically traumatized by her ordeal, she would never again be that carefree, innocent girl. That future had been stolen from her by the arrogance and greed of others, and she would never get it back. Yes, she would build a new life, a new future, for herself, but it wouldn't be the same.

What a waste, indeed.