Chapter 2: Something That Would Change Everything
Part 2
I didn't reply to my mother's text.
I didn't reply to any of them.
For six months, I said nothing.
I moved out of the house Julian and I had shared, packed what I could carry, and left Richmond without telling anyone where I was going.
Aunt Ruth was the only one who had my new number.
I spent those months doing something my family never expected from me.
Something quiet.
Something that would change everything.
Then one morning, my mother called in a panic.
"Sienna.
There's an article.
About you.
It's everywhere."
"I know," I said.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Her voice cracked.
"We're your family."
I let the silence sit between us for a long moment.
"You couldn't come to my husband's funeral," I said.
"You couldn't come to bury my children.
But you can call me now?"
She started crying.
Then I heard Eleanor's voice in the background.
"Is she angry?
Tell her we're coming.
Tell her we want to explain."
I looked out the window at the city I had rebuilt myself in, alone.
"There's nothing to explain, Mom."
"Sienna, please—"
"I have a meeting in ten minutes," I said.
"Don't call this number again."
I ended the call.
But twenty minutes later, there was a knock at my office door.
And when I looked up, I froze.
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May you like
What Sienna had built in those six months — and who was standing at that door — is more than anyone in her family was prepared for.
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