Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN IN PARIS
Sienna Ashford returned to Chicago without telling her mother.
She had lasted twenty-three days in Paris.
At first, freedom felt luxurious.
No wheelchair.
No grim security guards.
No silent dinners with men who measured loyalty like currency.
She attended parties.
Went shopping.
Allowed herself to be photographed at private clubs where no one knew she was supposed to be married in Chicago.
Then she started receiving messages.
Elias and his wife had attended a foundation event.
Elias looked happier.
Someone had seen “Sienna” laughing with Salvatore.
Someone else claimed the new Mrs. Marchetti had spent an afternoon visiting one of Elias’s injured employees.
Sienna stopped enjoying Paris.
The plan had always been temporary.
Maeve was supposed to survive three months.
Then disappear.
Sienna would later claim grief, emotional collapse, or some convenient excuse for why the marriage failed.
But something about the photographs unsettled her.
Maeve did not look trapped.
She looked like she belonged beside him.
Sienna entered her mother’s Chicago townhouse at midnight.
Margaret was furious.
“You were supposed to stay away.”
“I’m tired of staying away.”
“You cannot be seen here.”
“Then close the curtains.”
Sienna dropped her coat onto a chair.
“What is happening between them?”
Margaret’s expression changed.
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
“I am controlling the situation.”
Sienna laughed.
“You said that before you dressed the maid in my clothes.”
Margaret lowered her voice.
“Finn’s procedure happens next week.”
“Good.”
“After he recovers, Maeve leaves.”
Sienna poured herself wine.
“And Elias?”
“He believes his wife abandoned him.”
“What if he comes looking for me?”
“We will manage it.”
Sienna took a long drink.
“What if I don’t want him anymore?”
Margaret stared at her daughter.
Sienna looked toward the window.
“I mean after he recovers.”
Margaret slowly set down her glass.
“The doctors said he will not recover.”
“Doctors are wrong.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying maybe we should make sure.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“Sienna.”
“What?”
“You left him.”
“I panicked.”
“You called him a cripple.”
“In our kitchen.”
“A kitchen with witnesses.”
Sienna’s expression darkened.
“One witness.”
Margaret understood instantly.
“Do not be stupid.”
Sienna turned toward her.
“You used to tell me nothing is permanent if the right people can be persuaded.”
“Maeve is not the problem.”
“She is wearing my ring.”
“You gave it to her.”
“For three months.”
Sienna’s jaw tightened.
“Not forever.”
At the Marchetti estate, Maeve knew nothing about Sienna’s return.
Finn’s surgery occupied every thought.
Elias noticed she checked her phone constantly.
“Bad news?”
“No.”
“Then why are you frightened?”
Maeve looked at him.
Because my brother is being opened by surgeons tomorrow and you do not even know he exists.
She could no longer tolerate it.
“Elias.”
“Yes?”
“There is something I need to tell you.”
His heartbeat slowed.
Finally.
Maeve opened her mouth.
Gabriel entered.
“Sir.”
Something in his face stopped them both.
Elias turned.
“What?”
“We have a security issue.”
Maeve stood.
Gabriel looked briefly at her.
Then back at Elias.
“Ashford issue.”
Maeve felt ice enter her veins.
Elias saw it.
He said, “My study.”
Gabriel followed him.
The moment the door closed, Gabriel placed a photograph on the desk.
Sienna stepping out of a black car outside Margaret’s townhouse.
Taken less than two hours earlier.
Elias stared at it.
“Does Maeve know?”
“No.”
Elias’s expression became cold.
“Then Sienna came back for something.”
Gabriel nodded.
“What do you want to do?”
Elias looked toward the wall separating his study from the corridor where Maeve stood alone.
“Nothing.”
Gabriel frowned.
May you like
Elias picked up the photograph.
“If Sienna wants something from my wife, I want to see how close she is willing to come to get it.”
