Chapter 82
Sienna's pov
When they told me Jess had drugged me, I couldn’t accept it. We’d known each other for five years, and every time I spiraled and ended up at that coffee shop, she was the one who sat with me and talked me down.
I wanted to believe Elena had arranged everything before I even walked in. But the milk had come from Jess’s hand, and after I arrived, Elena never left her seat. If something had been slipped into my drink, it could only have been Jess.
A coldness crawled up my spine. I finally understood why Harrison had been grilling me.
Was it because traces of abortion medication were found in my system?
Eleanor replaced the needle with practiced calm and switched the IV to my other hand. “I’m not telling you this to upset you. The Blackwoods are tied up in too many things, and once you’re Harrison’s wife, you don’t get to stay clean. The person who hurt you might not have been aiming at you specifically. So don’t waste your energy being angry at how he’s acting. Leaving him is the right choice.”
I forced myself to breathe evenly until the tightness in my chest eased.
Eleanor’s words weren’t something I could take at face value, but they nudged a thought into place. If whoever did this wasn’t targeting me, then they were targeting Harrison. Only Elena’s objective had ever been me.
Jess’s suggestion surfaced in my mind again, sharp and unwelcome. Had she gotten close to me just to reach him?
“I understand,” I said quietly. “I’ll be more careful from now on.”
Leaving Harrison was a given. Only by cutting myself loose could I start over.
Eleanor offered a faint smile. “Come by the lab after you’re discharged. I’ll help you recover. A woman has to take care of herself.”
“Didn’t you just tell me my health isn’t that bad?” I kept my tone light. “I don’t think I need that once I’m out.”
Eleanor shrugged. “Suit yourself. It’s your body. I’m only giving you a recommendation.”
I smiled back, but my thoughts drifted to whether I’d even be allowed to leave once I was discharged. With Harrison, nothing was ever simply granted.
Until the day I left the hospital, Victor never contacted me, and Julian didn’t show up once. That wasn’t like him. When I messaged, the replies were vague, always pushed off into “later,” until I stopped asking.
When Harrison came to pick me up, he said it like a verdict. “Since I came back to New Haven, he hasn’t shown his face. Is this his so-called sincerity toward you? Ridiculous.”
“You’re the one who cheated,” I replied evenly. “What right do you have to talk about him?”
“And he has the right to steal my wife?”
I rolled my eyes. “Twist it however you want. I’m not arguing with you.”
After a month of upheaval, I was back at Blackwood Estate. Nothing had changed. I’d designed it myself, but it had always been built around Harrison’s taste, not mine. In the end, what did it have to do with me?
“Mrs. Blackwood, welcome back.”
Martha took my luggage, her eyes rimmed red. I squeezed her hand. “Yeah. I’m back.”
“Martha,” Harrison said, “take Mrs. Blackwood’s luggage upstairs and tidy her room.”
His expression stayed stiff as he guided me toward the sofa. He clearly had something he wanted to say. So did I.
We’d been inside long enough for the silence to press in, and Elena still hadn’t appeared. A door shut upstairs, and Harrison finally spoke.
“For the next month, as long as you don’t provoke Julian, I won’t restrict your movements.”
I matched his tone. “Cut ties with Elena, and I’ll listen to you.”
His gaze turned cold. “Sienna, do you really think you still have leverage to negotiate with me?”
“I don’t need leverage to call out double standards,” I said, my voice controlled. “You’re the expert.”
“So what? Do you have a choice?” he said. “In this relationship, the power has never been in your hands.”
“Would it kill you to speak to me like a human being?” The words came out sharper than I meant.
Without warning, Harrison leaned in, caging me against the sofa, that familiar amusement settling over his face. “Then be obedient.”
I lifted my hand and gripped his chin, pushing him back just enough to breathe. “If I’m obedient,” I asked softly, “will you love me?”
His frown deepened.
“If I’m obedient,” I continued, “will my dead mother come back to life?”
The air changed.
“Going back to the Price family—wasn’t that listening to you?” I said. “How much did you pay Victor to control me? After you left New Haven, he still disobeyed you. Only I was passed around like cargo, and you still call me ungrateful.”
His kiss came down hard, not tenderness but interruption. Disbelief flashed through me, and I bit his lower lip until he pulled back.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I wiped my mouth. He touched the blood at the corner of his mouth and smirked. “Noisy. And you’re right. If you were more obedient, maybe I would’ve fallen in love with you. Nora might not have died, and everything after that wouldn’t have happened. In the end, it’s your fault.”
I swallowed the urge to swing at him. Arguing would only drag us into the same circle.
“Let’s stop digging up the past,” I said. “I’m telling you clearly: even if you try to keep me in this house, if I want to leave, I will. Julian is my friend. I can’t promise I won’t have contact with him. And even if you restrict me, can you guarantee he won’t come to me? Harrison, I can’t meet your demands.”
Even now, I couldn’t read him. He said he’d let me go, but his actions never matched his words.