Chapter 452
Chapter 452:
Liam tried to intervene, leaning forward in his seat, his face pale. “Mother, this is insane. Sienna shouldn’t p>
Beatrice slapped Liam’s arm hard. “Shut up, Liam. Sit back p>
Sienna realized she had no choice. Her meal ticket, her fame, her future—it all depended on Beatrice.
She stepped forward. Her face was beet red, blotchy with humiliation.
Cameras were clicking furiously. Livestreams were running.
The world was watching.
Sienna bent at the waist stiffly. “I apologize p>
“Lower,” Alistair commanded.
Sienna ground her teeth so hard I thought I heard them crack.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
She bowed ninety degrees. A perfect, subservient angle.
“I apologize for my rudeness, Miss Sterling,” she choked out.
I smiled. It was dazzling. It was cruel.
“Apology accepted,” I said sweetly. “Try not to trip on your way out p>
Sienna straightened. Tears of humiliation streamed down her face. She turned and ran to the SUV.
The Kensingtons fled.
As the car drove away, I saw Liam looking back through the rear window.
Alistair turned to me. He leaned down and kissed my forehead gently, right in front of the paparazzi.
Through the glass, I saw Liam clutch his chest. His face twisted in a grimace of raw agony. He looked like he’d been stabbed. I watched him double over, his forehead pressing against the cool glass, his body wracked with tremors.
“He’s fighting something,” I murmured, my eyes narrowing. “That wasn’t just emotional pain. That was physical p>
I turned to Alistair. “Beatrice knows I know p>
Alistair nodded, guiding me toward the Rolls-Royce. “Fear is a good leash. For now p>
𝘜ո𝗰e𝗇𝘴𝗈𝗋𝘦𝘥 𝘴t𝗼r𝗶𝘦𝗌 o𝗻 𝖻𝘦𝘭𝗇ove𝘭ѕ.𝗰𝗈𝘮
“We need to be ready,” I said. “A trapped rat bites p>
“Let them bite,” Alistair said, opening the door for me. “Now, let’s go get you a dress that kills p>
Back at the penthouse, the mood was victorious but focused.
Alistair tossed a medical file onto the coffee table.
“My spies in the Kensington house found these bottles in the trash,” he said.
I picked up the file. It was a chemical analysis of the residue found in the bottles. Scopolamine. Benzodiazepines.
“It’s a compliance cocktail,” I realized, reading the report. “A powerful dissociative. It makes the subject suggestible, docile. It suppresses memory p>
Beatrice is drugging him,” I said. “She’s keeping him in a chemical fog so he does whatever she wants p>
I felt a pang of pity. It was small, but it was there. Liam was a prisoner in his own body.
But then I remembered the coldness in his eyes when he handed me the divorce papers. I remembered the years of neglect.
“He’s a grown man,” I said, tossing the file back. “If he was strong enough, he’d fight it. He let them in p>
“Cold,” Alistair said. He was smiling. “I love it p>
The next morning, Felix Carter arrived with a team of stylists.
Walking behind him was a woman with neon pink hair and a safety pin through her ear. Harper Quinn. Sienna’s estranged cousin. The black sheep of the Quinn family who had become an avant-garde designer.