Chapter 8 - What Sienna Stole
The name belonged to Anthony Moretti.
Dominic's uncle.
Dead for twenty-seven years.
I looked at Dominic.
He looked equally stunned.
Margaret sat down.
Then she told us.
Anthony Moretti had been my biological father.
He and Margaret met while working around Northstar's predecessor laboratory.
Their relationship was brief.
Real.
Dangerous.
Anthony discovered Victor was financing unauthorized research.
Before he could expose it, he died in a car accident.
Margaret never believed it was accidental.
She changed my birth certificate.
Hid my paternity.
And raised me as Claire Bennett.
Dominic stared at me.
"So we're..."
"No," Margaret said quickly. "Anthony was adopted. No biological relation to Dominic's father."
The tension left the room in the strangest possible way.
Dominic actually laughed.
Once.
I did too.
It was inappropriate.
Necessary.
Then the larger meaning hit.
Victor hadn't selected me only because of genetics.
He had selected the daughter of a man who once tried to destroy him.
My marriage to Grant had been revenge disguised as dynasty.
Sienna returned under federal protection that afternoon.
She brought one final piece of evidence.
A necklace.
Inside was a micro-storage card.
"I stole this from my mother."
The files contained Evelyn's personal notes.
Rose had been designated "R-17C."
C for continuation.
Evelyn intended to claim that Rose's birth proved the viability of her research.
Not legally.
Scientifically.
Financially.
The files listed potential buyers.
Private clinics.
Foreign investors.
We weren't dealing only with one family's secrets.
We were dealing with a business.
Sienna cried while describing her role.
"I thought I was protecting Grant."
I stared at her.
"You slept with my husband."
"I know."
"You forged my signature."
"I know."
"You watched me believe my body was broken."
She lowered her eyes.
"I know."
"Then don't tell me what you thought you were doing."
She nodded.
Fair.
I didn't forgive her.
But I let her testify.
That distinction mattered.
Two days later, Dr. Reeves appeared.
He walked into a federal office in Boston and surrendered.
He confirmed everything.
Victor financed the program.
Evelyn controlled the medical side.
He had altered my medication after realizing what they planned.
"Why didn't he tell me?" I asked Elena.
"Fear."
That word again.
Fear had governed everyone around me.
Grant feared inadequacy.
Sienna feared Evelyn.
Margaret feared Victor.
Reeves feared prison.
Dominic feared losing another person.
And I had feared being alone.
Rose woke crying.
I picked her up.
Not anymore.
That evening Dominic asked me to walk with him in the private courtyard.
"I need to tell you something before someone else does."
I sighed.
"That's becoming an alarming sentence."
"My father knew about Anthony."
"Your uncle?"
"He suspected you were Anthony's daughter."
"Did you?"
"No."
"When did he tell you?"
"Today."
I stopped.
"Why?"
"Because he wants to meet you."
"Absolutely not."
"Okay."
I blinked.
"That's it?"
"You said no."
I stared at him.
"You realize most powerful men in my life treat no like the opening position in a negotiation."
"I'm not most men."
No.
He wasn't.
I looked at him.
"What happens with us?"
"Whatever you want."
"That's terrifyingly healthy."
His mouth moved slightly.
"Don't spread it around. I have a reputation."
I laughed.
A real laugh.
The first since Rose's birth.
Then Dominic's phone vibrated.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He showed me.
A security photograph.
A woman entering the building.
Evelyn Vale.
Sienna's mother.
She had walked through the front entrance voluntarily.
May you like
And in her hand was a hospital cooler marked with one code.
R-17.
