Chapter 5
Daniel had been shot in the shoulder.
Not fatal.
Paul told me that twice because I made him.
“Was he conscious?”
“Yes.”
“Talking?”
“Yes.”
Diane looked irritated.
As if discussing my husband’s final minutes was wasting her evening.
“What happened?”
Paul continued.
“Vale men arrived.”
The Vale crew.
Paid violence.
No loyalty except money.
“Who hired them?”
Silence.
I looked at Diane.
She smiled.
“I hired leverage.”
“You hired gunmen.”
“I hired men who understood consequences.”
There was no shame.
Only vocabulary.
Sabrina stared at the ground.
I turned.
“You were there.”
“No.”
Paul said:
“She arrived later.”
My sister glared.
“Shut up.”
“What happened when Sabrina arrived?”
Paul swallowed.
“Daniel was in the car.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
My stomach twisted.
I looked at my sister.
“What did he say?”
Sabrina began crying.
Diane remained still.
“He asked for you.”
I closed my eyes for half a second.
Then opened them.
“And?”
“He told Mom she had lost you.”
Diane snapped:
“He was taunting me.”
Sabrina shook her head.
“No.”
Mother turned.
“He was.”
“No, Mom.”
That tiny contradiction changed something.
Sabrina looked at me.
“He believed once you knew, you’d never forgive her.”
“What happened next?”
Silence.
I already knew who gave the final order.
I looked at Diane.
“You burned the car.”
“No.”
Sabrina whispered:
“She told Elias to.”
Diane slapped her.
My guards stepped forward.
I stopped them.
Sabrina stared at our mother.
Diane hissed:
“You’ve ruined enough.”
Sabrina laughed through tears.
“You told me Daniel had to disappear.”
“Stop.”
“You told me Natalie would come back to you.”
“Stop.”
“You told me I would take her place.”
Diane suddenly laughed.
Sabrina froze.
“What?”
My mother looked almost amused.
“You believed that?”
My sister’s face emptied.
And there it was.
Diane had promised Sabrina my position.
Not because she intended to give it.
Because she needed another obedient tool.
Sabrina slowly turned toward me.
“My God.”
I said nothing.
She looked back at Mother.
“You never planned to give me anything.”
Diane shrugged.
“You were useful.”
Connor heard it.
May you like
So did Bella.
And for the first time, Sabrina experienced exactly how Diane had always seen her.
