Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Helped Betray Me
I met Sienna the following morning at a coffee shop in Coconut Grove.
Not alone.
Rebecca sat at a nearby table.
Nora waited outside.
I wanted the conversation documented appropriately, but I also wanted to see Sienna's face when she told me what she knew.
She arrived ten minutes late.
Without the cream-colored suit.
Without the diamond necklace.
Without Logan.
She wore jeans, a plain black blouse, and sunglasses she removed as soon as she sat down.
Her eyes were red.
I didn't offer comfort.
"Talk."
She looked down at her coffee.
"I know you hate me."
"I don't know you well enough to hate you."
She flinched.
"I deserved that."
I folded my arms.
"Why did you call?"
She stared at the table.
"Because Logan lied about everything."
I waited.
She swallowed.
"We met at a real estate networking event last November."
I felt a dull pain behind my ribs.
November.
My thirty-ninth birthday had been in November.
Logan had missed dinner because of a business meeting.
I wondered if that was the night.
Sienna continued.
"He told me he'd separated from his wife."
"He hadn't."
"I know that now."
"Did you know it yesterday?"
Her eyes filled.
"Yes."
I appreciated the answer.
At least she hadn't tried to rewrite what happened.
"When did you find out?"
"About two months ago."
"And you stayed."
She nodded miserably.
"Yes."
I looked toward the window.
There was no satisfying response to that.
Nothing she said could undo the betrayal.
"Why are you here?"
She reached into her handbag and removed a small envelope.
Inside were printed messages.
Screenshots.
Photographs.
A hotel receipt.
Rebecca stood and approached quietly.
Sienna glanced at her.
"This is my attorney," I said.
"She can help us handle any documents properly."
Sienna nodded.
Then she pushed the envelope toward me.
"Logan said he was taking over Lumina."
I looked at the first message.
Once Camille signs, we'll control the operating company.
The next message came from Helena.
She'll sign when she understands the alternatives.
I read it twice.
"Alternatives?"
Sienna twisted her hands.
"That's what I asked."
"What did Logan say?"
"He said there were old accounting records that could make Camille look dishonest."
I looked up sharply.
"What records?"
"Something about the expansion."
My chest tightened.
Four years earlier, Lumina had expanded into the neighboring storefront.
The construction had been chaotic.
Our first contractor went bankrupt halfway through the renovation.
A supplier disappeared with a deposit.
I spent weeks negotiating emergency replacements while trying to keep the original restaurant open.
Logan had helped manage paperwork.
He had offered to handle several vendor accounts.
And I'd been so exhausted that I let him.
"What did he say specifically?"
Sienna shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Did he show you anything?"
"One document."
"What document?"
"A reimbursement request."
I leaned forward.
"Whose?"
"Yours."
I stared at her.
She continued.
"It had your signature."
I looked at Rebecca.
She was already taking notes.
"Did Logan explain what it was?"
Sienna nodded.
"He said you had improperly billed personal expenses to the restaurant."
I almost laughed.
The accusation was grotesquely familiar.
Everything Logan had done.
Everything Helena had helped him do.
Now they intended to claim I was responsible.
"Did you believe him?"
Sienna looked ashamed.
"At first."
"And now?"
"Now I think he used old paperwork to create a story."
Rebecca spoke.
"Sienna, did you personally observe any documents being altered?"
"No."
"Did Logan say he altered anything?"
Sienna hesitated.
"He said his mother knew how to handle the records."
I stared at her.
"His mother?"
"Yes."
She pulled out another screenshot.
A message from Logan.
Mom found the old authorization. We can use that if Camille refuses.
I felt ice move through my chest.
Rebecca leaned closer.
"May I photograph that?"
Sienna agreed.
Then she reached deeper into her handbag.
"There's more."
She placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Logan standing with an older man outside a waterfront office building.
I recognized Logan immediately.
The other man was unfamiliar.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"Victor Hale."
The name stirred something.
"Should I know him?"
"He's a private investor."
"Why is he involved?"
Sienna lowered her voice.
"Logan owes him money."
I stared.
"How much?"
"More than four hundred thousand."
Rebecca stopped writing.
"Do you have personal knowledge of that amount?"
Sienna nodded.
"I heard Victor demand repayment during a meeting."
"Was there documentation?"
"I don't have it."
I looked down at the photograph.
"Why does Logan owe him?"
"Investment losses."
"What investment?"
"Waterfront properties."
I felt a sudden, almost absurd urge to laugh.
Logan had spent years criticizing my restaurant as financially unstable.
Meanwhile, he had apparently borrowed heavily to speculate on luxury properties.
Sienna continued.
"Victor gave him until the end of the month."
"To do what?"
"Repay him or provide collateral."
I stared at her.
"And Lumina was supposed to become that collateral."
She looked down.
"That's what I think."
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then I asked the question I'd been avoiding.
"Sienna, why did you post that video?"
She started crying.
Not dramatically.
Just tears running down a face that had finally stopped trying to look perfect.
"Helena told me to."
I didn't move.
"She said you were abusive."
I stared at her.
"To whom?"
"Logan."
I let out a breath.
"Of course."
"She told me the video would protect him."
"And you believed that?"
Sienna shook her head.
"Part of me knew it was wrong."
"Then why did you do it?"
She looked directly at me.
"Because I wanted him to choose me."
The honesty hurt.
Not because it was surprising.
Because it was so small.
She had helped attack another woman for a promise from a man who lied to them both.
I looked at the messages.
Then I slid them back toward her.
"Please preserve the originals. Rebecca will tell you how to provide authenticated copies."
Sienna nodded.
"Okay."
I stood.
She reached toward me.
"Camille, I'm sorry."
I looked at her hand.
Then at her face.
"I believe you regret what happened."
Hope flickered in her eyes.
"But regret doesn't erase your choices."
She withdrew her hand.
"I understand."
I turned to leave.
Then she spoke again.
"There's something you should know about Helena."
I stopped.
"What?"
Sienna looked frightened.
"She doesn't believe you deserve to own Lumina."
I gave a bitter smile.
"I've noticed."
"No."
Sienna shook her head.
"You don't understand."
She leaned forward.
"She thinks your restaurant was always supposed to become Logan's."
I stared at her.
"Why?"
"Because of a promise he made to her."
"What promise?"
Sienna swallowed.
"That once he married you, he'd make sure the Mercer family got control of the business."
For a moment, I couldn't move.
"Since when?"
She hesitated.
"According to Helena..."
Her voice nearly disappeared.
"Since before your wedding."
I stood frozen beside the table.
Suddenly, memories I'd never questioned began rearranging themselves.
Logan's intense interest in my restaurant.
His insistence that I shouldn't sign a prenuptial agreement without his input.
Helena's sudden warmth when Lumina became profitable.
All the times they'd called the restaurant a family asset.
I looked at Sienna.
"Are you telling me my husband planned this before he married me?"
Her eyes filled again.
"I don't know what he intended at the beginning."
She lowered her head.
"But Helena said he'd been promising her ownership for years."
I walked out of the coffee shop without another word.
Outside, Miami's morning sun was painfully bright.
Cars moved through the intersection.
People carried shopping bags.
A cyclist rang his bell.
The world continued as if nothing had happened.
But everything in my life had shifted.
I'd thought my marriage had fallen apart because Logan changed.
May you like
Now I had to consider something much worse.
Perhaps he'd never been the man I believed I married.
