Chapter 47
Sienna's pov
I’d been telling myself my growing closeness to Julian was all because of Harrison.
When I was at my lowest and someone kept reaching a hand out, it wasn’t strange to start feeling something for them.
So I thought Harrison had no business being upset.
But if there was real bad blood between him and Julian, and he didn’t want to see us getting too close, that was understandable too.
But then what, exactly, had he done to me?
I was only trying to explain myself, to keep the misunderstanding from getting worse.
Yet Harrison’s frown tightened. “You’re that eager to speak for him?”
“I’m stating my position. Don’t twist my words.”
I rolled my eyes. “Julian and I only talk because of work and my mom. But looking at your reaction… are you overthinking it?”
Throwing it back at him made it feel like I’d taken control for once.
Harrison sneered. “Overthinking? Hardly. I figured he’s done so much for you that you’d be loyal to him. Didn’t expect he hasn’t even told you about what’s between us.”
After all that, I still didn’t know anything.
So I asked straight out, “So what happened between you two? Can’t you just tell me?”
The moment I said it, I felt unsteady.
Talking to Harrison always put me on the defensive.
No matter how hard I pushed, he could shut me down in a few clipped words, and I’d end up swallowing the rest.
I’d been doing that for too long.
Would he answer?
“Why do you need to know?”
There was no disdain on his face, no lazy amusement.
He was actually engaging.
I let out a quiet breath. “Legally, I’m your wife. I have a right to know.”
Saying it out loud made me realize I should’ve asked a long time ago.
From the first time I met Julian, I should’ve figured out what he was to Harrison. But back then, I was drowning in anger and grief, and I didn’t have the strength to care. Even later, I clung to the idea that I could stay out of it.
But could I?
I’d already agreed to Julian’s invitation. From the start, when he approached me with a purpose, I’d been dragged into the current.
I needed the truth, or I’d stay useful to everyone except myself.
Harrison laughed, sharp and humorless.
“Our marriage has less than a year left. You don’t need to know.” Then he added, almost casually, “If you still want to know, and we haven’t divorced after you have the baby, I’ll tell you.”
I gave him a small, deliberate smirk. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll ask Julian.”
I thought it would land like a threat.
“Him?” Harrison’s eyes turned cruel. “Sienna Price, don’t overestimate yourself. To him, what are you? A…”
“A pawn,” I cut in. “A sacrifice in your fight.” My throat tightened, but I kept my voice steady. “If he sees me as a pawn, what do you see me as? A tool you pick up when you feel like it?”
Harrison went quiet.
I didn’t expect kindness from him.
But there were things I had to say, even if Julian and I had already reached an understanding. And no one had ever said I had to keep my word just because I once gave it.
Harrison reached for me, and my eyes squeezed shut on reflex, my shoulders tensing, braced for the familiar roughness.
But he only cupped my cheek.
His thumb brushed beneath my eye, slow and light, almost careful.
It hit an old memory.
That night, at the beginning, he’d looked at me the same way and kissed me without warning.
That was where it started.
“Do I look like her?”
Harrison froze, confusion flashing through his gaze. “What?”
“Elena Whitmore.” I lifted my hand and laid it over the back of his. “The first time we slept together… you thought I was Elena, didn’t you?”
Otherwise, why would he ever touch me?
“Is that what you think?” He pulled his hand away, his voice dropping cold. “If you want to be her substitute, I don’t mind.”
The conversation had slid off course again.
I shoved it back. “So are you going to tell me about you and Julian or not? If not, fine. Get me a charger.”
If he wouldn’t talk, I’d find another way.
There were plenty of secrets among the Four Titans of the East Coast. Sorting truth from noise was on me.
His gaze lingered, unreadable, and then he turned.
Before he walked out, he left me with one sentence. “Everything between the Blackwoods and the Vanes has nothing to do with you.”
I sat there on the bed, staring ahead, while the past kept surfacing in sharp, unwanted flashes.
When I first came to the Blackwoods, Catherine didn’t want me. I was the girl with debt and a mother who wouldn’t wake up. Harrison took the pressure from every direction and still gave me a grand wedding.
Back then, he never once said Elena’s name.
Everything changed when the fake pregnancy was exposed.
Why was I framed for that?
He didn’t want to divorce me. He didn’t want me anywhere near Julian.
The ward was too quiet, and the birds outside sounded painfully loud.
I pulled my knees up and let the tears fall, hot and steady.
“Harrison… what do you really mean?”
He clearly didn’t want me in the feud between the Blackwoods and the Vanes, but Julian had pulled me in anyway.
Was he trying to protect me?
But what he’d done to me—what he’d put me through—I couldn’t forgive.
Footsteps hurried in, not his.
I wiped my face fast.
A nurse set a charger on the bedside table. “Mrs. Blackwood, you’ll need your IV in half an hour.”
I nodded, blank.
I’d been unconscious for three days. I was pregnant. Of course they were keeping me on an IV.
Once the phone was charging, I turned it on, and notifications stacked up so quickly my stomach tightened.
I replied to Luna first: [I’m okay. Don’t worry.]
After three days of silence, she had to be terrified.
Her response came almost instantly.
[You scared me to death. What happened? What did that animal Harrison do to you?]
My fingers moved slowly.
[Luna, my mom tried to kill herself.]
[Do you believe it?]
She didn’t answer right away.
Then: [Where are you? I’m coming.]
I almost sent my location immediately, but then I thought about her and Alexander Jakes.
[You don’t need to come. I’m fine now. Harrison didn’t do anything to me.]
Luna wouldn’t buy that.
[SIENNA. Send me your location now. If you still consider me your friend.]
I couldn’t refuse anymore.
She knew exactly where to press until I gave in.
I sent the location.
Then I skimmed the rest. Work invitations I couldn’t touch yet, so I pushed them aside.
But I noticed that in three days, Julian hadn’t sent me a single message, and—
A new friend request.
Victor Price.