Chapter 31
At the police station, the chief dropped the evidence like a bomb. Chloe’s face went sheet-white, her manicured nails digging into her knees. I sat frozen, mouth slightly open like a broken doll. Ron just kept swallowing, his Adam’s apple bobbing like a fishing float in rough waters.
Mason had assumed he would get off clean until the surveillance footage showed him dragging Vivian into a car. Now facing charges as Chloe’s partner in crime, Mason couldn’t believe his ears. He grabbed the officer’s sleeve and shouted, “Chloe’s healthy? That’s bullshit! She is obviously sick!”
The officer shook him off. “Drop the act. You’re in this up to your neck.”
Only then did Mason realize Chloe had played him like a fiddle. She had been perfectly fine all along. A bitter laugh escaped him. Then his mind flashed to Vivian. Guilt twisted in his gut. He knew he had wronged her, and secretly decided he would spend the rest of his life making things right.
The Quinns couldn’t get Mason out, so they rushed to the Hart house, mad as hell. But the guards locked them out, making Mrs. Quinn scream and shout like a crazy woman for hours. The police finally took her away for causing a public nuisance.
Linda tugged hard on Aiden’s arm, her voice shrill with panic. “Do something! If we don’t fix this now, we’re screwed! The Quinns are not to be messed with. Sienna’s just a clueless kid, but you’re her dad. Grow a spine and handle this!”
Aiden rubbed his temples, his patience wearing thin. He had never found Linda so annoying before. Her constant yapping was driving him up the wall. “Then what the hell do you want me to do?” he barked.
“Make Vivian go to the station and get Mason released. Then we’ll apologize to the Quinns. It’s the only way!”
Aiden turned, ready to agree. But then he froze in place, like a deer in headlights. Sienna stood at the top of the stairs, her icy smirk locking him in. His breath hitched, fingers twitching at his sides. Then he forced out the words, “I can’t make that call.”
Linda’s face darkened. “Like hell you can’t! They’re your daughters. If talking won’t work, knock some sense into them. Since when do you fear your own daughter! You’re the head of this family. Then act like it!”
Aiden’s jaw clenched, his ribs still aching from Sienna’s last kick. Linda clearly had no idea what Sienna was capable of. Before he could say anything, the temperature in the room dropped as Sienna descended the stairs, her every step like frost creeping across glass.
Linda still kept shaking him like a faulty vending machine, demanding he man up and put Sienna in her place. Aiden’s patience finally snapped. “Oh please, enlighten me. Who’s the head of the family?!”
Linda’s blood ran cold at his words. She spun around, and there stood Sienna. Her stomach dropped. “Sienna,” her voice came out thin, “Since when were you there?”
Sienna’s lips curled in a frosty smirk, her eyes like chips of ice. Pearl slippers, beaded cape, silk-spun hair—Sienna looked untouchable, like an ice queen carved from winter itself. She stood a full head taller than Linda, arms locked across her chest in unyielding command.
“Guards,” she commanded, “Lock her up. No food, no water, no mercy. Let her rot for poisoning our family vibe.”
The guards sprang into action at her command. Linda panicked, shrieking as they grabbed her. “Sienna, have you lost your stepmother! This is madness, absolute madness!”
Sienna didn’t bat an eyelid. “Elisa, she’s too noisy.”
Elisa caught on in a flash and slapped Linda square across the face. “Shut your mouth. You’re disturbing Miss Sienna.”