Chapter 425
“Sienna? Are you still there?” Luna called out.
“I’m here,” Sienna said, snapping back to reality. “Get in touch with Thea Stanton for me. Have her run a background check on Helena and the matriarch’s recent movements, along with Celeste’s medical files p>
“Don’t you think Jarred has a hand in this p>
Sienna stayed silent for two seconds. “It’s better if he does, otherwise it’d be too hard to catch him slipping up p>
Hanging up, Sienna immediately called for her staff to prep a change of clothes and headed straight back to Sterling Manor.
The atmosphere at the estate felt entirely different today.
Sienna felt it the second she stepped out of the car.
The main doors were wide open, flanked by somber white memorial wreaths swaying softly in the afternoon breeze.
Sienna approached slowly, her gaze locking onto the center of the grand foyer.
A makeshift memorial shrine stood glaringly in the middle of the hall.
To call it a memorial was a stretch; the setup was incredibly bare-bones.
A long table sat in the center, bearing a single urn.
Right in front of the urn rested a framed photograph of Celeste.
The woman in the picture was smiling gently, her eyes curved in a way that perfectly captured her innocent, harmless facade.
Other than that, there was absolutely nothing else.
No memorial banners, no grand floral tributes, no eulogies, not even a row of chairs for visiting family and friends.
The entire setup was barren and hollow, like a rushed theater stage thrown together at the last second.
The massive hall was chillingly quiet, so silent you could hear the faint crackle of the memorial candles.
Besides the household staff, the only people present were Helena and the matriarch sitting solemnly in the center—not a single visitor had come.
Seeing Sienna, the young maid standing guard by the door jolted upright.
Sienna didn’t even look at her. Her gaze swept lightly over the empty, desolate hall, her voice steady and flat.
“Is everyone gone? For her final send-off, isn’t this a little too pathetic p>
The young maid’s face instantly turned ashen, too terrified to utter a single syllable, immediately shooting a desperate took toward the matriarch and Helena in the corner.
Helena helped the matriarch up from the sofa.
Sienna’s stunning face remained unreadable as she stared them down.
There was no red-rimmed swelling around their eyes from crying, no trace of the grief that came with losing a loved one.
They lacked both the devastating sorrow of a shattered heart and the quiet devastation of mourning.
It was hard to tell if they had simply run out of tears, or if they had never genuinely mourned her in the first place.
When their eyes landed on the bold, fiery red dress Sienna was wearing, their expressions simultaneously darkened a heavy gloom settling Över their features.
Standing before a stark white memorial, Sienna’s vibrant red attire was too glaring, too deliberately provocative.
The matriarch suppressed the darkness in her eyes, meeting Sienna’s sharp gaze with a frosty tone.
“Celeste was a quiet girl who never fought with anyone and hated crowds. Having her own family see her off is more than enough p>
It was a flawlessly crafted excuse—sounding warm and nostalgic on the surface, but every word was designed to shut down any gossip.
It was also a covert warning for Sienna to know her place.
Sienna offered a faint smile, looking at their unbothered faces. WithoutTM calling out their lie she walked straight toward the shrine in the center.
“Stop right there p>
It was as if a nerve had been struck; Helena suddenly lunged forward, fiercely blocking Sienna’s path.
“Sienna, what more do you want? If you hadn’t hounded her at every turn and deliberately targeted her p>
Forcing her into a psychiatric ward to be tortured, and crippling her legs, would she have ended up dying alone and miserable like this p>
Helena’s voice echoed through the silent hall, practically dripping with bitter resentment and harsh accusations.
“Now that she’s dead and her body isn’t even cold, you show up in bright red to gloat.
Are you seriously refusing to give her peace even in death? Are you really so wicked that you have to drive her into the ground completely p>