Chapter 13
Sienna remembered being twenty-two.
She had wanted to move to Boston.
A graduate program.
A rented apartment.
A life that did not begin and end with Ferrante security.
Two weeks before she left, the landlord suddenly withdrew the lease.
Her scholarship sponsor unexpectedly reconsidered.
The internship she had arranged disappeared.
At the time, Nico told her circumstances changed.
She came home.
Stayed in New York.
Met Gavin a year later.
Now she looked at her father.
“Did you do that?”
Nico did not lie.
“Yes.”
The word hit harder than shouting.
Sienna stared at him.
Her hands slowly lowered from her belly.
“Why?”
“You were twenty-two.”
“I was an adult.”
“You had threats around you that you didn't understand.”
“So you destroyed everything.”
“I removed risks.”
Her eyes filled.
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“You removed choices.”
Nico felt the sentence physically.
Marjorie watched from across the room.
A small satisfaction returned.
She wanted Sienna to see Nico through the same lens she had.
Control disguised as protection.
For once, she was not entirely wrong.
Sienna looked between her father and husband.
Her breathing became uneven.
“You both decided fear meant you loved me.”
Gavin lowered his eyes.
Nico did not.
She continued.
“Gavin pushed me because he couldn't control whether I left.”
Her gaze returned to Nico.
“You made sure I couldn't leave before I even met him.”
Nico’s hand tightened around his signet ring.
For decades that ring represented authority.
Now it felt heavier.
He removed it.
Placed it on the table.
Sienna watched.
He said:
“I was wrong.”
Marjorie scoffed.
“How convenient.”
Nico looked at her.
“No.”
A pause.
“Convenient would be pretending my mistake makes yours smaller.”
Her expression hardened.
He continued.
“I controlled my daughter.”
His eyes moved toward Gavin.
“You assaulted her.”
Then Marjorie.
“You endangered her and terrorized my granddaughter.”
Then Sabrina.
“You punished a child for telling the truth.”
Nobody spoke.
Nico turned back to Sienna.
“And none of that erases what I did.”
The room changed.
Marjorie had expected denial.
Instead Nico took away her leverage by admitting the truth.
Then Sienna’s phone vibrated.
Claire had recovered one final deleted email from Gavin.
Scheduled to send the morning after the baby’s expected delivery.
Recipient:
Nico Ferrante.
Subject:
SIENNA NEEDS HELP.
Attached were notes portraying Sienna as unstable, paranoid and unsafe around the children.
Gavin had been preparing a version of events in which—
May you like
after the baby was born—
he would claim Sienna was the dangerous parent.
