Chapter 23 - The Letter From Sienna
The letter arrived unexpectedly.
Sienna.
She had been living quietly since the trial.
She didn't ask for money.
She didn't ask for forgiveness.
She asked to meet.
I almost refused.
Then I remembered something my father had written.
Justice does not require cruelty.
I agreed.
We met in a small café.
Sienna looked completely different.
No designer clothes.
No expensive jewelry.
No entourage.
Just a young woman who looked tired.
“I don't expect you to forgive me,” she said.
“I don't.”
She nodded.
“I deserved that.”
I didn't answer.
She looked down.
“I helped Mom because I was afraid of losing everything.”
“You helped her hurt me.”
“I know.”
Her voice cracked.
“I've thought about that every day.”
I studied her.
“What do you want?”
“To tell you something.”
She reached into her bag.
It was one of my father's old photographs.
The three of us as children.
Me.
Sienna.
Our father.
“He kept this in his study,” she said.
I touched the photograph.
“He never hated you.”
I looked up.
“How do you know?”
“Because I found a note behind it.”
She handed me a folded paper.
My father's handwriting.
My daughters may choose different paths. I only hope they remember they are sisters before they remember they are heirs.
I couldn't breathe.
Sienna started crying.
“I forgot that.”
I folded the note carefully.
“I didn't.”
She nodded.
We didn't hug.
Not yet.
But when I stood to leave, I told her:
“You don't have to become who Mom wanted you to be.”
Sienna looked at me.
“You can become someone else.”
May you like
For the first time, she smiled.
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