Chapter 12 - THE WOMAN IN THE SILVER DRESS
Margot's sister Evelyn had received twelve million dollars.
Sienna stared at the transfer record.
Her first thought was that it had to be wrong.
Evelyn Sterling-Hale was obnoxious.
Cruel.
Entitled.
But financial conspiracy?
Arthur checked twice.
Then a third time.
“It isn't wrong.”
The receiving company belonged to Evelyn's husband.
A commercial consulting firm with no employees.
Twelve million dollars had moved through it in eight months.
Sienna remembered Evelyn laughing in the chapel.
Remembered the handbag occupying her mother's seat.
Remembered Evelyn removing the reserved cards.
“This was bigger than humiliating my parents.”
Arthur nodded.
“Possibly.”
“Why would they create chaos at the wedding?”
Robert sat across the room.
“Maybe the chaos wasn't the goal.”
Sienna looked at him.
“What was?”
“Getting you married.”
That seemed contradictory.
Then Arthur understood.
“The prenup.”
Sienna went still.
The prenuptial agreement Margot had pressured her to sign had gone through multiple revisions.
Sienna had refused the final version.
Margot insisted it would be signed during a private meeting immediately after the ceremony.
Sienna had assumed that was controlling behavior.
Now Arthur asked for the document.
They reviewed it.
Page fourteen.
Then page twenty-three.
Then schedule C.
Arthur stopped.
“There.”
Sienna leaned closer.
A clause dealing with “inter-family commercial opportunities.”
Dense language.
Boring language.
Exactly the kind designed to be skimmed.
Arthur read slowly.
Upon solemnization of marriage, any commercial arrangement initiated through either spouse prior to the marriage and materially benefiting shared marital enterprises could become subject to joint beneficial claims under specified conditions.
Sienna looked up.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Margot's attorneys may have been preparing an argument that the Apex integration was a marital opportunity.”
Sienna felt cold.
“They wanted Damian to have a claim.”
“Possibly.”
“To my family's agreement.”
“Possibly.”
Her phone rang.
Arthur checked the caller ID.
Margot.
Sienna laughed in disbelief.
“She has timing.”
Arthur answered on speaker.
“Margot.”
“I want to speak to Sienna.”
Sienna leaned toward the phone.
“I'm here.”
“You've made your point.”
Sienna looked at Arthur.
“My point?”
“The company is collapsing. My son has resigned. Reporters are parked outside my house.”
“None of that answers why twelve million dollars went to Evelyn.”
Silence.
Long silence.
Then Margot's tone changed.
“You don't understand what you're looking at.”
“Then explain it.”
“It was compensation.”
“For what?”
“Consulting.”
Sienna laughed.
“Try again.”
Margot's voice hardened.
“You think you're clever because people online are cheering for you?”
“This has nothing to do with the internet.”
“It has everything to do with perception.”
There it was.
Margot's religion.
Perception.
Sienna leaned back.
“What did you expect to happen after the wedding?”
Margot said nothing.
“Did you plan to use the prenup to claim part of Apex?”
Still nothing.
Arthur looked at Sienna.
He had his answer.
Margot finally spoke.
“You were marrying my son. Families combine assets.”
“Not by fraud.”
“Don't be dramatic.”
“You created a company using my name.”
“To simplify negotiations.”
“You represented unsigned agreements as finalized.”
“To protect Sterling.”
“And you moved money to Evelyn.”
“That money has nothing to do with you.”
“Then regulators can decide.”
Margot inhaled sharply.
“You wouldn't.”
Sienna almost smiled.
“You still don't know me.”
The call ended.
Twenty minutes later, Arthur received confirmation.
Federal and state investigators were requesting records.
Margot's financial world was beginning to close around her.
That evening Sienna drove to her parents' house.
Helen was cooking soup.
Robert was repairing a kitchen drawer that did not need repairing.
Normal life.
Sienna sat at the table.
“Were you ever tempted?”
Robert looked up.
“To do what?”
“To destroy the Sterlings years ago.”
He considered.
“Yes.”
That surprised her.
“When?”
“The first time Margot insulted your mother.”
Helen laughed from the stove.
“That narrows it down to approximately fifteen years ago.”
Sienna frowned.
“You knew her that long?”
Helen and Robert exchanged another look.
Sienna noticed.
“What?”
Her mother turned off the stove.
“Sienna.”
A pause.
“There is another reason Margot always hated us.”
Sienna waited.
Helen sat opposite her.
“Before I married your father…”
May you like
She glanced at Robert.
“…Margot and I were friends.”
