Chapter 9 - The Woman in Red.
Sienna arrived at the hotel through the service entrance just after midnight.
She wore jeans and a gray sweater instead of the red dress Claire would never be able to forget.
Without the makeup and confidence, she looked younger and far less certain of herself.
Claire did not offer her sympathy.
Rachel placed a recorder on the table and asked Sienna if she consented to the conversation being documented.
Sienna agreed.
Then she handed Claire her phone.
There were hundreds of messages from Dominic.
Some were romantic.
Some were explicit promises that he would leave Claire after gaining permanent control of the company.
Others were instructions.
Wear the red dress Tuesday.
Use Claire's robe in the kitchen where the camera can see you.
If Leo gets upset, don't calm him down.
Mom will handle Mia.
Make sure Claire sees us together.
We need her furious before we mention Daniel.
Claire read each line slowly.
She thought she had already reached the limit of what her husband could do.
She had been wrong.
One message was dated six weeks earlier.
Once the board sees she's unstable, the trust will have no choice but to leave me in control.
Sienna had replied, And then us?
Dominic answered, Then everything is ours.
Claire looked up.
"Everything?"
Sienna lowered her eyes.
"He told me the company would be his."
"My father's company."
"He said you didn't deserve it because you were never home."
Claire fought the urge to throw the phone across the room.
Instead, she asked the question that mattered.
"Why help me now?"
Sienna's face twisted with shame.
"Because I saw what he did to Leo."
Claire's expression did not soften.
"You laughed."
"I laughed because Dominic looked at me, and I was afraid if I reacted differently he would turn on me."
"That does not make it better."
"I know."
Sienna wiped her eyes.
"But when he locked Leo in the pantry, I told him it was too far."
She searched her messages and opened an audio file.
Dominic's voice filled the room.
Stop acting guilty, Sienna.
The kid will be fine.
His mother needs to see what happens when she chooses work over family.
Then Evelyn's voice appeared in the background.
Tomorrow we get Claire angry, we get the footage, and this whole mess is over.
Claire went completely still.
Rachel immediately copied the file.
Sienna looked toward the bedroom door where Leo was sleeping.
"There's something else."
Claire waited.
"The one-point-eight million dollars was not supposed to stay in Northstar."
Rachel leaned forward.
"Where was it going?"
"Dominic opened an account in the Cayman Islands."
Claire's stomach tightened.
"How do you know?"
"Because he asked me to fly there with him next Friday."
Sienna unlocked another message thread.
The final message contained a photograph of two passports on a desk.
One belonged to Dominic.
The other belonged to Mia.
Claire stopped breathing.
May you like
"Why does he have my daughter's passport?"
Sienna whispered, "He was planning to take her with us."
