Chapter 17 - CRIMINAL CHARGES LOOM
"Elena! Elena, darling! I'm here!"
A ragged, gasping voice echoed into the boutique.
The entire crowd outside gasped, parting in shock as Gwen Mercer stumbled through the doors.
She was a horrifying sight.
She was wearing the six-dollar gray sweatpants and oversized t-shirt, her stocking feet black with street dirt, her gray hair tangled wildly around her face, her eyes bloodshot and crazed.
She looked like a homeless woman who had escaped from an asylum.
"Elena!" Gwen cried, running toward the marble counter, ignoring Sienna completely. "Tell these people to let us in! Christian has been arrested! We need your private jet! We need to hire a lawyer! Give me the corporate card from the boutique!"
Elena stared at Gwen with absolute disgust.
"Get away from me, you crazy old hag!" Elena screamed, backing away from the counter.
Gwen stopped dead, blinking in utter disbelief. "What... what did you say? Elena, it’s me! Gwen! Your future mother-in-law! I helped Christian get you the money! I toasted to you in Cabo!"
"You're a disgusting, broke old parasite!" Elena shrieked, her voice echoing out into the crowded street where hundreds of people were filming through the glass doors. "You and your pathetic loser son! Christian told me his wife was a helpless idiot who would never notice the money! He told me he was going to divorce her and give me half of Meridian Global! He lied to me! You lied to me! You dragged me down into your filthy, pathetic scam!"
Gwen’s face contorted in agony, as if she had been slapped across the face for the second time in forty-eight hours. "Elena... no... we love you... you're Christian’s true love..."
"Christian is a broke felon facing twenty years in federal prison!" Elena spat, tears of pure hatred pouring down her face. "I never loved him! He was an ATM! A stupid, insecure little boy who gave me millions of dollars to tell him he was a big man! Now get out of my face before I vomit!"
Gwen stumbled backward, clutching her chest, her breath coming in ragged, wheezing gasps.
She turned slowly.
Standing in the center of the boutique, framed by the crystal chandeliers, stood Sienna.
Sienna was watching her with an expression that was neither angry nor triumphant. It was something far worse: complete, absolute indifference.
"Sienna..." Gwen whispered, her knees shaking. "Sienna... my child..."
"Do not use my name, Gwen," Sienna said quietly.
Gwen dropped to her knees on the cold marble floor. The proud, arrogant woman who had demanded thirty thousand dollars a month, who had slapped Sienna until her lip split, who had treated her like an obedient dog, was now crawling on her hands and knees across the floor of the seized boutique.
"Sienna, please!" Gwen begged, clutching at the hem of Sienna’s ivory trousers with her dirty, shaking fingers. "I made a mistake! Christian made a mistake! We were confused! Forgive us! You are a Christian woman! You believe in family! Don't leave me with nothing! Look at me! I have no shoes! I have no home! I have nothing to eat!"
Sienna looked down at the woman at her feet.
She did not kick her away. She simply took one step back, allowing Gwen’s hands to fall empty onto the cold marble.
"You had a home, Gwen," Sienna said, her voice clear, steady, and carrying out to the hundreds of people watching from the street. "You had thirty thousand dollars a month. You had respect, comfort, and luxury that you never earned. But it wasn't enough for you. You wanted to bleed me dry, humiliate me, and replace me with a thief."
"I was wrong! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Gwen wailed, pressing her forehead against the floor, weeping like a broken child.
"I know you're sorry, Gwen," Sienna replied softly. "You're sorry you got caught."
Sienna turned to the deputies standing at the door.
May you like
"Deputies. Please remove this trespasser from my property."
***