Chapter 8
Gavin reacted immediately.
“That is not what this looks like.”
Nobody answered.
He turned toward Sienna.
His voice softened.
Again, that practiced shift.
“You were pregnant. We updated everything.”
Sienna stared at the forms.
“I never saw these.”
“You signed the estate packet.”
“Not this.”
Marjorie leaned forward.
“Every married couple with children carries insurance.”
Nico looked at her.
Marjorie’s hands slowly folded together.
He said nothing.
She looked away.
That was new.
Claire examined the policy.
It was real.
The coverage increase was substantial.
Not absurd.
But significant.
Requested six weeks after Sienna stopped authorizing payments.
Nico’s eyes moved toward Gavin.
“You increase the policy after she stops signing your money.”
Gavin’s jaw tightened.
“It was financial planning.”
Sienna’s breathing grew shallow.
Nico watched her face.
She was remembering something.
“What?”
She looked at him.
“Three weeks ago.”
A pause.
“I fell in the upstairs bathroom.”
Nico’s expression changed.
Gavin stared at her.
Sienna continued.
“The rug moved.”
Marjorie scoffed.
“A rug?”
Sienna ignored her.
“Gavin told me pregnancy changed my balance.”
Her fingers pressed against her belly.
“I believed him.”
Another memory.
The loose handrail outside the nursery.
A car door that swung unexpectedly when she leaned beside it.
Small things.
Nothing she could prove.
Nothing dramatic enough to call an attempt.
Until today.
Sabrina’s face had gone pale.
Nico saw.
He turned toward her.
“You know something.”
She shook her head.
“Look at me.”
She did.
Her eyes were wet now.
Not remorse yet.
Fear.
Nico lowered his voice.
“Did Gavin plan those?”
“No.”
Too quick.
Sienna’s breath caught.
Sabrina looked at her brother.
Gavin’s expression had become almost blank.
A warning without words.
Sabrina’s hand started shaking.
Nico waited.
Ten seconds.
Fifteen.
Nobody rescued her from the silence.
Finally:
“The bathroom wasn’t Gavin.”
Marjorie’s head snapped toward her.
Sabrina covered her mouth.
Too late.
Sienna slowly looked at Marjorie.
Marjorie’s face hardened.
Sabrina whispered:
“Mom moved the rug.”
The room changed.
Marjorie stood.
“It was supposed to scare her.”
Sienna’s eyes filled.
“At thirty-six weeks pregnant?”
Marjorie’s voice sharpened defensively.
“She needed to stop digging.”
Nico’s hands went completely still.
May you like
There had already been an “accident.”
And today’s shove was not the first time someone in the Cole family had decided fear was easier than letting Sienna leave.
