Chapter 8
Sienna requested to meet me after Eliana had spent twelve days in neonatal care.
Naomi advised against an unsupervised conversation.
We met in a hospital conference room with separate counsel.
Sienna wore no red dress.
No glittering makeup.
She looked like a frightened pregnant woman who had not slept.
“I am sorry,” she began.
“For coming to the shower?”
“Yes.”
“For sleeping with my husband?”
Her face reddened.
“Yes.”
“For believing every lie because it gave you what you wanted?”
She looked down.
“Yes.”
I had no interest in making her innocent.
I also refused to make her responsible for Adrian’s fist.
“What did he promise you?”
“A house. Marriage. A job with the family foundation. Security for my mother.”
“Did you know Vale Development was in trouble?”
“He said temporary cash flow.”
“Did you give him money?”
“Thirty thousand dollars.”
All her savings.
Adrian called it an investment in a property renovation.
The property did not exist.
Sienna handed Naomi copies of messages and a small audio recorder.
“I started recording Celeste after she asked me to sign the baby papers.”
“Why?”
“She said Adrian’s former wife had mental problems.”
“Former wife?”
“You.”
I almost laughed.
“I’m not former yet.”
“I know.”
Sienna’s recordings captured Celeste speaking about both children.
Eliana will bring Ashford voting influence under Adrian once Mara is declared incapable.
Your son will restore the Vale line.
Sienna asked:
“And me?”
Celeste answered:
“You will recover privately after birth. Public attention can be damaging for young mothers.”
“How long?”
“As long as necessary.”
“Will Adrian visit?”
“He will be managing two inheritances.”
Sienna’s voice changed on the recording.
“You said I would marry him.”
Celeste laughed.
“Sweet girl, marriage was the bait that worked on Mara too.”
The room became silent when the audio ended.
Sienna had not been brought into the family.
She had been recruited into a role.
When that role ended, Celeste intended to remove her through the private wellness facility named in the guardianship document.
The facility belonged to a Vale Foundation subsidiary.
Investigators later found three women connected to Vale executives had been admitted there during inheritance or custody disputes.
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One remained under a guardianship managed by Celeste’s longtime attorney.
The case expanded.
