Chapter 12
Sabrina’s statement changed the investigation.
She admitted cutting Mila’s braid.
She admitted helping disable the garage cameras after Gavin told her there would be a “private family confrontation.”
She admitted knowing Marjorie had moved the bathroom rug.
She denied knowing about the increased insurance policy.
And she gave Nico something else.
A second phone.
Marjorie’s.
Hidden inside Sabrina’s handbag after the garage fight.
Marjorie’s eyes turned cold.
“You stole from me.”
Sabrina laughed through tears.
“You told me to hide it.”
Her mother went silent.
The phone contained months of messages between Marjorie and Gavin.
Not one clean conspiracy.
Something messier.
Arguments.
Pressure.
Guilt.
Money.
Marjorie repeatedly reminded Gavin what Nico had done to Richard.
Whenever Gavin threatened to stop moving money, she answered with some variation of the same wound:
Your father died ashamed while Ferrante kept everything.
Gavin had resisted several requests.
Then complied.
Again.
Again.
Each compromise made the next easier.
Sienna read only part of the messages.
She stopped.
“I’ve seen enough.”
Nico looked at her.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Her hand rested on her belly.
“I don't need every ugly sentence to know where my marriage is.”
That was different from how Nico handled betrayal.
He wanted every detail.
Every name.
Every consequence.
Sienna wanted a boundary.
He respected it.
Then Sabrina revealed something more personal.
Mila had not first spoken about Gavin pushing Sienna today.
She had told Marjorie two days earlier.
Marjorie panicked.
That was why the garage confrontation had been accelerated.
They were not only trying to secure Sienna’s signature.
They were trying to teach Mila that saying what she saw caused pain.
Sabrina looked sick as she admitted it.
Nico’s eyes went completely still.
The haircut was not impulsive cruelty.
It was psychological punishment.
A warning designed for a three-year-old.
Sienna stood.
Her chair scraped against the floor.
Gavin looked at her.
She did not look back.
“I’m done.”
His breathing hitched.
“Sienna.”
She kept walking.
Then Marjorie called after her.
“You think your father is different?”
Sienna stopped.
Nico’s eyes moved toward Marjorie.
She smiled bitterly.
“Ask him what he did the first time you tried to leave home.”
Sienna slowly turned.
Nico’s face changed.
May you like
Marjorie saw it.
And just like that, she found one last weapon inside his past.
