Chapter 6 - SIENNA WAS NEVER THE OTHER WOMAN
The security footage showed Sienna walking.
That was the first problem.
She was wearing hospital clothes beneath a long coat.
A man in Vale transport scrubs walked beside her.
He never touched her.
To anyone watching without context, she looked voluntary.
Lena paused the video.
“Look at her left hand.”
Maya zoomed in.
Sienna’s fingers were curled.
Theo frowned.
“What?”
Lena pointed.
“She uses her left hand for her phone, cups, everything. Since childhood.”
“So?”
“She’s not moving it.”
I looked closer.
Her left arm hung strangely against her body.
“Sedated?”
“Possibly.”
Maya said, “Can we prove it?”
“No.”
I called the lead investigator, Dana Brooks.
She listened.
Then said, “We’re treating it as a potentially endangered missing person.”
“Potentially?”
“Victoria, she is thirty-one years old and the footage shows her walking.”
“She was sick.”
“I know.”
“She had a line pulled out.”
“I know.”
“Vale credentials were used.”
“I know.”
I forced myself to stop.
Dana continued.
“Help me with somewhere Malcolm would take her.”
I looked at Lena.
“Hartwell?”
She shook her head.
“Closed eight years ago.”
Theo said, “North Harbor?”
“Police are there.”
Maya asked, “Vale Wellness Pavilion?”
Lena’s face changed.
“After hours, it would be nearly empty.”
I told Dana.
She responded instantly.
“Do not go there.”
Theo whispered, “I hate when people say that.”
“We are not going.”
Maya looked at me.
“We are absolutely not going.”
Twenty minutes later, we were following investigators toward the Vale Wellness Pavilion.
Technically, we were obeying.
Barely.
Dana met us in the parking lot.
“You remain here.”
Theo raised both hands.
“See? Responsible citizens.”
Dana looked at him.
“You are the one who tried to follow officers into North Harbor.”
“That was curiosity.”
“That was obstruction.”
“Different interpretation.”
I pulled Theo backward.
“Go.”
Dana entered with six officers.
We waited.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Fifteen.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then I heard breathing.
“Sienna?”
A whisper.
“Victoria.”
My heart slammed.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya signaled Dana by text.
I put the call on speaker.
“What can you see?”
“White room.”
“Window?”
“No.”
“Anything written?”
“A cabinet says Cell Processing B.”
Lena whispered, “Lower level.”
I repeated, “Lower level?”
Sienna heard.
“I think so.”
“Who is with you?”
“No one now.”
“What happened?”
“Two men said I was being transferred.”
“Did you agree?”
“I was dizzy.”
Her breath shook.
“Then Dr. Kell came.”
Arthur Kell.
He had been released pending charges because investigators had initially lacked grounds to hold him.
“What did he say?”
“That I needed treatment.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Can you walk?”
“I think.”
A door sounded through the phone.
Sienna stopped breathing.
A man’s voice.
“Give me the phone.”
Kell.
Sienna whispered, “No.”
“Ms. Cross.”
His voice hardened.
“You are confused.”
She laughed weakly.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“You people always tell women they’re confused.”
“Sienna.”
“No.”
A scuffle.
The phone hit something.
I shouted, “Sienna!”
Kell’s voice became distant.
“You are jeopardizing your treatment.”
“And you’re kidnapping me.”
“No one kidnapped you.”
“Then open the door.”
Silence.
“Open it.”
Kell said nothing.
Then Dana’s voice came through my own speaker and from the phone simultaneously.
“State police! Step away from her!”
Shouting.
A crash.
Then the call disconnected.
Theo grabbed my shoulders.
“They found her.”
I could barely breathe.
Ten minutes later Dana emerged.
“Sienna’s alive.”
My knees weakened.
Lena asked, “Kell?”
“In custody.”
“Was Malcolm there?”
“No.”
“Evidence?”
Dana’s expression changed.
“A lot.”
We were allowed inside two hours later after the scene was secured.
Sienna sat wrapped in a blanket.
She looked smaller than I remembered.
She also looked furious.
The moment she saw me, she said, “You were right.”
“About what?”
“We are going to argue.”
I sat beside her.
“Good.”
She looked at my hand.
“You needed stitches.”
“You needed rescue.”
“Mine wins.”
“Fine.”
For a moment we simply looked at each other.
The bride and the woman the groom claimed to love.
It should have felt impossible.
Instead, it felt sad.
Sienna broke the silence.
“I met Preston when I was nine.”
“I know.”
“Charles Brenner told you?”
“Yes.”
“My mother worked for Celeste.”
“I know that too.”
“She cleaned their house.”
Sienna looked toward the hallway.
“Preston used to sneak food to me when Celeste made my mother work late.”
That image did not fit the man at the altar.
Which meant it probably happened.
“Were you together?”
“When we were older.”
“How old?”
“Seventeen.”
“And?”
“His father found out.”
“What happened?”
“Malcolm told Preston I was temporary.”
I winced.
“That sounds like him.”
“Preston told him to go to hell.”
I looked at her.
Sienna smiled sadly.
“He used to be brave for about ten minutes at a time.”
That sounded like Preston too.
“What happened when you got sick?”
“Everything changed.”
She looked at her hands.
“Suddenly the Vales treated me like family.”
“Because Celeste loved you?”
“Partly.”
“And Preston?”
“He was nineteen. Terrified.”
“Then Emily donated.”
Sienna nodded.
“I didn’t know the truth.”
“Until now.”
“I always knew something was wrong.”
“The red bracelet.”
“Yes.”
Sienna closed her eyes.
“She came into my room at night.”
“What exactly did she say?”
“She asked if I was the girl who got her cells.”
My skin prickled.
“I said yes.”
“She said, ‘They promised I could leave Hartwell if I helped you.’”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“Preston.”
“What did he say?”
“That the medications were making me hallucinate.”
I closed my eyes.
Same method.
Discredit.
Deny.
Continue.
Sienna whispered, “I believed him because I wanted to.”
“Understandable.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She looked at me sharply.
“I let myself believe something convenient.”
“That does not make you responsible for what they did to Emily.”
“It makes me responsible for not asking again.”
There was no useful argument against that.
So I said, “Then ask now.”
Her eyes filled.
“I am.”
Theo entered with coffee.
He stopped when he saw us together.
“This is surprisingly civilized.”
Sienna glanced at him.
“You threatened to throw me into a fountain once.”
Theo shrugged.
“You insulted my sister.”
“She wore white to my birthday.”
“It was cream.”
“It was bridal.”
I stared at both of them.
“When did this happen?”
Sienna and Theo answered together.
“Two years ago.”
I almost laughed.
Lena entered behind him.
“Sienna, the independent transplant team is on the way.”
Sienna’s face hardened.
“No Victoria.”
Lena nodded.
“They are searching the national registry.”
“And if there’s no match?”
“We discuss options.”
Sienna looked at me.
“No.”
I said, “We are not having this conversation while you are half sedated.”
“Promise me.”
“No.”
“Victoria.”
“I will decide what happens to my body.”
The words landed between us.
Sienna’s eyes softened.
Then she nodded.
“You’re right.”
It was the first time in three years anyone connected to Preston had said that without calculation.
Dana entered.
“We need a statement.”
Sienna sat straighter.
“From me?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“If you’re medically able.”
“I am.”
Dana looked at me.
“Privately.”
I stood.
Sienna caught my wrist.
“Wait.”
I turned.
“There’s something you need to know.”
Dana paused.
Sienna continued.
“Kell talked while he thought I was too drugged to remember.”
“What did he say?”
“He said Malcolm should have finished ‘the Ashford problem’ when he had the chance.”
My heart hammered.
Dana asked, “Exact words?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
“He said, ‘Eleanor should have been enough.’”
No one moved.
Dana’s expression became hard.
“That goes in the statement.”
I walked into the hallway.
Theo followed.
He looked at me.
“You still think Dad didn’t know?”
“I think Dad knew enough to be ashamed.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
I looked through the glass at Sienna.
“I don’t know.”
Theo nodded.
“Then we find out.”
Maya approached holding a tablet.
“You may not like this.”
“What?”
“North Harbor search found the Hartwell audit.”
I turned.
“And?”
“Your father’s signature is on the receipt.”
“I know he received it.”
“Not that signature.”
She showed me.
A handwritten note beneath the receipt.
HOLD ALL ACTION PENDING FAMILY REVIEW.
R. ASHFORD.
Theo whispered, “He stopped the investigation.”
My chest went hollow.
Maya continued.
“There’s another page.”
She swiped.
A meeting schedule.
Richard Ashford.
Malcolm Vale.
The day before my mother’s crash.
I looked at Theo.
He looked back at me.
Family had been the word my father used to justify everything.
Protect the family.
Protect the foundation.
Protect the name.
May you like
Now I had to find out whether ten years earlier he had protected those things from Malcolm Vale—
or protected Malcolm Vale from my mother.
