Chapter 10 - SIENNA’S CHOICE
Sienna requested a private meeting with prosecutors.
She offered full cooperation in exchange for consideration at sentencing.
Unlike Damian, she did not deny her role.
She admitted intercepting Clara’s calls.
She admitted sending false messages to me.
She admitted placing medication in Clara’s tea.
She claimed Helena told her the dosage was safe.
Detective Monroe showed her the laboratory report.
One additional dose could have caused Clara to lose the pregnancy.
Sienna broke down.
“I didn’t know.”
“You chose not to know,” Monroe replied.
Sienna revealed that Helena controlled her through debt.
For years, my sister had lived beyond her means.
Designer clothing.
Luxury travel.
A penthouse I believed she purchased through her marketing career.
Helena secretly paid for everything.
When Sienna tried to resist the plan, Helena threatened to expose her debts and forged loan applications.
“She said Julian would never forgive me,” Sienna whispered.
“She was right.”
I attended the interview from behind one-way glass.
Sienna could not see me.
Part of me remembered the little girl who followed me around our childhood home.
She used to hide behind me when our father became angry.
She once sold her bicycle to buy me a secondhand laptop.
That sister had existed.
So had the woman who drugged my pregnant wife.
Both truths occupied the same face.
Sienna gave prosecutors access to Helena’s private cloud storage.
Inside were hundreds of files documenting years of manipulation.
Helena kept records of everyone’s weaknesses.
Affairs.
Debts.
Addictions.
Illegal payments.
She called the folder Family Insurance.
One subfolder carried Clara’s name.
It contained photographs, altered medical records, and a draft obituary.
The obituary described Clara as a troubled woman who died after a long struggle with mental illness.
The creation date was six months earlier.
“She planned to kill Clara too,” I said.
Detective Monroe did not disagree.
A second document outlined a staged overdose.
Helena intended to use the sedatives already in Clara’s system.
Damian would discover her body.
Sienna would testify that Clara had been depressed.
I would be presumed dead in the plane crash.
Within one week, Helena would control the estate, the company, and our child’s inheritance.
The unborn baby was mentioned only as a potential legal complication.
Helena’s note beneath it read:
Resolve before viability.
I left the observation room before anyone saw my face.
In the hallway, Sienna was led past me.
She stopped.
“Julian.”
I said nothing.
“I know you hate me.”
“Hate would require energy I need for Clara.”
Tears ran down her cheeks.
“I loved you.”
“You helped our mother plan my funeral.”
“I was afraid of her.”
“So you made Clara afraid of you.”
She lowered her head.
“I’ll testify.”
“You should.”
“Will you ever forgive me?”
May you like
I looked at my sister for a long moment.
“Your consequences are not mine to erase.”
