Chapter 5 - The Things Sienna Had Tried to SayThe next morning, Marcus cancelled everything.
Board meeting.
Investor breakfast.
Flight to New York.
For the first time in years, his schedule contained one word.
SIENNA.
She woke at seven.
For several seconds, she looked normal.
Then she remembered.
Her body stiffened beneath the blankets.
Marcus sat in the chair beside her bed.
“Morning.”
“Where’s Cordelia?”
“Not here.”
“Will she come back?”
“Not today.”
“Ever?”
Marcus hesitated.
Sienna noticed.
Children always noticed hesitation.
“I don’t want her here.”
“She will not be here while we figure this out.”
“That means maybe.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
He had trained himself to speak carefully in negotiations.
With Sienna, careful language sounded like betrayal.
“I am going to fight to keep you safe.”
She looked at him.
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
“Even if she gets mad?”
His throat tightened.
“Especially then.”
Sienna sat up.
Marcus poured water.
She accepted the glass but did not drink.
For a long moment neither spoke.
Then Marcus said, “You told the officer that Cordelia acts differently when I’m gone.”
Sienna’s eyes lowered.
“I told you before.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t believe me.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
The question was simple.
The answer was not.
“I thought I knew her better.”
“You knew me first.”
Marcus felt the words physically.
“Yes.”
“Mom used to believe me.”
Claire.
Marcus looked toward the photograph beside the bed.
Claire and Sienna at age four, both covered in flour while baking cookies.
“Your mom was better at some things than I am.”
“Was she better at believing me?”
Marcus could not protect himself with vague language.
“Yes.”
Sienna nodded.
No triumph.
Just confirmation.
Marcus leaned forward.
“I need you to tell me everything you remember Cordelia doing that made you uncomfortable.”
Sienna picked at the blanket.
“You’ll say I’m making it bigger.”
“No.”
“You did before.”
“I did.”
She looked up.
“I was wrong.”
That mattered.
A little.
Sienna began.
Cordelia had started by correcting things.
The way Sienna held forks.
The way she sat.
The way she spoke at dinner.
“Mom let me sit on my knees sometimes.”
“Cordelia said that was childish.”
“I am a child.”
Marcus almost smiled.
Then Sienna continued.
Cordelia had removed photographs of Claire from the downstairs hall.
She said they made guests uncomfortable.
Marcus remembered approving the redesign.
He had told Sienna her mother’s pictures remained upstairs.
He had thought compromise meant fairness.
Now he understood what the removal communicated.
This house belongs to the new wife.
Your mother belongs in private.
“What else?”
“She told me your company was more important than little problems.”
“When?”
“When I asked why you missed my school thing.”
Marcus remembered.
Sienna’s history presentation.
He had promised.
Then a lender meeting moved.
He sent flowers to school.
Flowers.
To a ten-year-old.
As though apology could be delivered by a florist.
“She said important men don’t have time for girls who cry.”
Marcus looked away.
“What did you say?”
“I stopped crying when she was there.”
His chest hurt.
“Anything about your trust?”
“She asked what Mom left me.”
“When?”
“A lot.”
“What did you say?”
“That I didn’t know.”
“What did she say?”
“That kids shouldn’t have money because people could take advantage of them.”
Marcus almost laughed at the cruelty of the sentence.
“Anything else?”
Sienna hesitated.
“She asked if Evelyn liked you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did you say?”
“I said Evelyn scares everybody.”
Marcus actually smiled.
That was true.
Then Sienna remembered something.
“She asked if Evelyn sends letters.”
Marcus stopped.
“What letters?”
“The envelopes with the green line.”
Evelyn’s trust office used green-bordered stationery.
“Did Cordelia see them?”
“She took one once.”
“When?”
“A few months ago.”
“What did she say?”
“That grown-up money papers should go to grown-ups.”
“Did she give it back?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus stood.
Sienna immediately looked frightened.
He stopped.
“Sorry.”
“You’re mad.”
“Not at you.”
“That’s what adults say when they’re mad near kids.”
Marcus sat again.
“Fair.”
She watched him.
“Are you going to divorce Cordelia?”
The question arrived without warning.
“I don’t know what happens next.”
Sienna looked disappointed.
Marcus corrected himself.
“I know we will not live together right now.”
“Why not forever?”
Because lawyers.
Because facts.
Because due process.
Because marriage did not dissolve in twenty-four hours.
But emotionally Marcus already knew.
A woman who could threaten his daughter while forging his name did not belong in their home.
“I don’t think Cordelia and I will stay married.”
Sienna looked relieved.
Then guilty for looking relieved.
Marcus saw both.
“You don’t have to be sad for me.”
“I’m not.”
He laughed softly.
“Okay.”
“I mean… maybe a little.”
“Thank you.”
Sienna drank the water finally.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“I found Mom’s necklace.”
Marcus looked up.
“What?”
“Yesterday.”
“Where?”
“In Cordelia’s dressing room.”
His skin went cold.
“Where exactly?”
“In a jewelry drawer.”
“Are you sure?”
“It had Mom’s tiny scratch on the back.”
Claire’s pendant had a diagonal scratch from when she dropped it on a stone patio years ago.
Sienna would know.
“That’s why I went in there.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“She took it.”
“I think.”
Marcus stood slowly this time.
“I’m going to ask Lila to sit with you.”
“Where are you going?”
“To make a list.”
“Of what?”
“Every time I explained something away.”
Sienna frowned.
“That’ll be long.”
He stared at his daughter.
Then, unexpectedly, laughed.
“Yes.”
She smiled faintly.
Marcus walked downstairs.
Lila waited in the hall.
“I need to ask you something.”
She looked nervous.
“About Cordelia.”
Lila’s expression told him enough.
“How much have you seen?”
The house manager looked toward the staircase.
“More than I should have stayed quiet about.”
Marcus felt anger rise.
At her.
At himself.
“Why?”
“Because Mrs. Hale told staff you approved how she handled Sienna.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“What did she do?”
Lila swallowed.
“She monitored Sienna’s mail.”
Marcus went still.
“What else?”
“She told us not to let Sienna into your office when you traveled.”
“That’s normal.”
“She told us not to let Sienna call Ms. Shaw from the house phone.”
That was not normal.
Marcus stared.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Lila’s voice broke.
“I tried.”
“When?”
“I left you a message.”
“I never got it.”
“Cordelia said you did.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Again.
Every road went through Cordelia.
Lila whispered, “There is one other thing.”
“What?”
“Last month, I heard her tell Mr. Sloan that Sienna was becoming ‘too observant.’”
Marcus’s eyes opened.
“What exactly did Victor say?”
May you like
Lila hesitated.
“He said, ‘Then move faster.’”
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