Chapter 11 - DAMIAN COMES TO THE FARM
Three days after the wedding, Damian drove alone to the Miller farm.
No driver.
No security.
No tailored three-piece suit.
Just jeans, a white shirt, and a face that looked like he hadn't slept.
Robert found him beside the equipment barn.
“You lost?”
Damian looked toward the older man.
“I came to apologize.”
Robert wiped his hands on a rag.
“To me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Damian looked confused.
“Because of what I said.”
Robert leaned against the tractor.
“What did you say?”
Damian's face tightened.
“You know.”
“I want to hear whether you do.”
The younger man looked down.
“I told you to learn your place.”
Robert waited.
“I called you old man.”
Still waiting.
“I stood there while my family mocked you.”
Robert nodded.
“And?”
Damian swallowed.
“I hurt your daughter.”
Robert's expression changed.
“That is the one.”
Damian's eyes filled.
“I don't expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
The answer startled him.
Robert continued.
“Because you aren't here to ask me for it.”
Damian frowned.
“You need to ask yourself why you became a man who could do that.”
Damian looked toward the fields.
“I don't know.”
“Then figure it out.”
“I loved her.”
Robert's face hardened.
“Don't use that word carelessly around me.”
“I did love her.”
“Maybe.”
Robert folded the rag.
“But whatever you felt didn't stop your hand.”
Damian said nothing.
A truck approached.
Sienna.
She parked near the barn and froze when she saw him.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was leaving.”
“Good.”
Damian nodded.
Then he took an envelope from his pocket.
“For you.”
Sienna didn't accept it.
“What is it?”
“My resignation.”
“From Sterling?”
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
“The board hasn't asked for that yet.”
“They shouldn't have to.”
Robert quietly walked toward the farmhouse.
Damian placed the envelope on a workbench.
“I also surrendered my voting proxy.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because yesterday I would have used those things to bargain with you.”
“And today?”
“Today I don't want them to become another excuse.”
Sienna studied him.
There was something different about him.
But she wasn't naïve enough to confuse remorse with change.
Change took time.
Sometimes years.
“Are you going to therapy?”
Damian blinked.
“What?”
“Anger intervention. Therapy. Something.”
“Yes.”
“Already?”
“This morning.”
She nodded.
“Good.”
“I know that doesn't fix anything.”
“It doesn't.”
“I know.”
They stood in silence.
Wind moved across the fields.
Finally Damian looked toward the house.
“Your father told me something.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
A tiny smile appeared and disappeared.
“He said apologizing is cheap if the person you're apologizing to has to pay for your guilt afterward.”
Sienna recognized her father's language immediately.
“So don't make me manage yours.”
“I won't.”
He turned to leave.
“Sienna?”
She waited.
“I didn't come because I want you back.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“I mean…”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Of course part of me does. But I know I have no right to ask.”
For the first time, he sounded honest without asking for anything in return.
“I came because I needed you to hear me say it when there weren't cameras.”
Sienna said nothing.
Damian met her eyes.
“I hit you.”
His voice trembled.
“You didn't cause it. My mother didn't cause it. Pressure didn't cause it. I did.”
Sienna's throat tightened.
“And I am sorry.”
He walked away.
Sienna watched until his car disappeared down the gravel road.
Then she picked up the envelope.
Inside was the resignation.
Signed.
Unconditional.
But underneath it was something else.
A copy of a document.
One of Margot's shell-company transfers.
Sienna read the name of the receiving account.
Her stomach dropped.
Because the money had not gone to Margot.
It had gone to someone Sienna knew.
May you like
Someone who had attended the wedding.
Someone who had spent the entire ceremony pretending to be on Sienna's side.
