Chapter 9
Seraphina asked to speak to me alone.
Diana said no.
Seraphina looked like she might argue.
Then she glanced at the agents and thought better of it.
Good.
Fear had finally taught her manners.
We sat in a small hospital consultation room.
I wore a robe.
She wore a ruined couture coat over what looked like silk pajamas.
Two days ago, she had been the bride of the year.
Now she looked like a woman who had run from her own reflection.
She stared at my hospital bracelet.
“Is the baby alive?”
My body went rigid.
Diana’s eyes sharpened.
Seraphina flinched.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Her name is Grace,” I said.
Seraphina swallowed.
“Is Grace okay?”
“She’s fighting.”
Something in her face cracked.
“I didn’t know they locked you in.”
I said nothing.
“I knew Mom was angry. I knew she thought you were trying to ruin the wedding. But I didn’t know you were in labor.”
“You saw me being pulled away.”
“I thought…” She covered her mouth. “I thought it was another Sterling thing.”
“What does that mean?”
She laughed once, bitterly.
“It means we are raised to pretend nothing ugly is happening until the photographer leaves.”
For the first time, I saw her.
Not as Seraphina the cruel sister-in-law.
Not as the woman who mocked my job.
But as another daughter trained by Eleanor Sterling.
That did not excuse her.
It explained the shape of the cage.
She placed the flash drive on the table.
“This is my insurance.”
Diana leaned forward.
“Against whom?”
“My mother.”
“What’s on it?”
“Videos. Recordings. Copies of ledgers. Real ledgers.”
Diana picked it up with a gloved hand.
“Why bring it now?”
Seraphina looked at me.
“Because Julian is making a deal, and he’s going to say everything was Mom. Mom is going to say everything was Julian. And both of them will say I was stupid.”
“Were you?”
She smiled faintly.
“Yes. But not that stupid.”
I almost respected the honesty.
Almost.
Seraphina’s voice lowered.
“Mom planned to frame you months ago.”
I went cold.
“How?”
“She found out someone from the attorney general’s office was reviewing the estate. She didn’t know it was you at first. Then Julian realized.”
My throat tightened.
“He told her?”
Seraphina nodded.
“He said he could handle you.”
Diana’s face hardened.
“How?”
Seraphina looked away.
“He told Mom you were pregnant, emotional, loyal. He said you wouldn’t turn on him before the birth.”
For a second, I could not move.
Julian had not simply known.
He had counted on my love.
He had turned my pregnancy into a shield for himself.
Seraphina kept talking.
“Mom ordered Patrick to create vendor entries under your name. Julian approved them. I copied the files because…” She hesitated.
“Because?”
“Because in this family, everyone eventually needs protection from everyone.”
That sentence told me more about the Sterlings than any court record could.
Diana asked, “Why help Audrey now?”
Seraphina looked at the floor.
“Because when the agents came, Mom told me to say Audrey caused the raid to get attention during my wedding.”
“And?”
“And for one second, I almost did.” Tears filled her eyes. “Then I remembered your face when they wheeled you out.”
She looked at me.
“You looked at Julian like he had died.”
I said nothing.
“He deserved it,” she whispered.
Diana stood.
“We’ll verify the files.”
Seraphina nodded.
Then she turned to me.
“I’m sorry.”
The words landed strangely.
Too late.
Too small.
But real.
“I don’t know what to do with that,” I said.
“I know.”
“Then don’t ask me to comfort you.”
“I won’t.”
She stood.
At the door, she paused.
“Grace is a good name.”
May you like
I looked at her.
“Yes,” I said. “It is.”
