Chapter 15 - The Viper’s Confession
The heavy steel door clicked shut behind me. Marcus stood just outside the glass, his gaze never leaving me for a fraction of a second.
Sienna lifted her head slowly. Her eyes were bloodshot, swollen, and filled with a horrifying mixture of envy, terror, and absolute ruin. When she saw me, she let out a dry, raspy laugh that sounded like dry leaves scraping across concrete.
"Look at you," Sienna wheezed, her voice cracked. "Queen Clara. Safe in your fortress. Dry clothes. Private security. Perfect little life."
"Where is your son, Sienna?" I demanded, sitting down across the metal table.
"He took him, Clara!" she suddenly lunged forward, the metal handcuffs rattling violently against the ring bolted to the center of the table. "Julian took Leo! He told me... he told me if I drove down here and forced you off the road, if I caused enough chaos to make you miss the emergency hearing tomorrow morning, he’d give Leo back to me!"
"He lied to you," I said evenly, staring straight into her haunted eyes. "Just like he lied to me when he told me you were just his business consultant. Just like he lied when he said he loved you."
Her face crumpled, a grotesque mask of agony. "He took all the money from my personal accounts. He forged my signature on the title of my mother’s house. I have nothing left, Clara! Not a single cent! He told me... he told me you stole his life, and that everything that happened to me was your fault!"
"Julian destroys whatever he touches," I said, leaning in. "You knew what he was when you climbed into his bed while I was eight months pregnant. You thought you were winning a prize, Sienna. You were just volunteering to be his next victim."
Tears streamed through the dirt on her cheeks. She buried her face in her cuffed hands, weeping in long, ragged sobs that echoed hollowly in the small room.
"Where did he take Leo?" I asked again, firmer this time. "Tell me, Sienna. If you care about that baby even an ounce as a mother, tell me where Julian went."
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Through her gasping breaths, she choked out words that made the hair on my arms stand on end:
"He didn't go to Florida. He’s at the old boathouse on Lake Mercer. He told his lawyer he was staying at a hotel downtown, but he’s hiding the baby out there. He has a boat ready... he’s meeting someone at dawn."
