Chapter 466
“She’s waiting in the first-floor lobby,” the young nurse replied nervously. “She swore she wouldn’t leave until she saw you. Dr. Sloan, should I just call security to p>
“No need,” Sienna said calmly, tossing her disposable mask into the medical waste bin. “I’ll go handle it p>
With that, she walked out of the room.
Daisy was sitting on a bench in the main lobby, dressed in an oversized white knit sweater. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders, and she looked noticeably thinner than the last time Sienna had seen her.
Her head was bowed, her fingers twisting nervously in her lap. She looked exactly like a pitiful, shivering bird caught in the rain—fragile, submissive, and utterly harmless.
The moment she saw Sienna step out of the elevator, she immediately stood up.
Gathering what looked like a tremendous amount of courage, she practically jogged over, her voice trembling slightly. “Dr. Sloan p>
Sienna stopped in her tracks, her gaze resting coolly on the younger woman.
“I… I came to apologize,” Daisy stammered, biting her lip as her voice grew impossibly small.
“Jarred told me… he told me the suicide note was fake. I was used… I shouldn’t have caused a scene at the hospital. I shouldn’t have said those awful things about you at the birthday banquet… I’m so sorry p>
She barely whispered the last three words, darting anxious glances around the lobby as if terrified someone might overhear her humiliation.
Sienna stared down at Daisy’s trembling eyelashes, offering zero immediate response.
Having worked as a clinical psychologist for years, Sienna had dealt with countless patients suffering from histrionic personality traits.
Every single micro-expression on this girl’s face looked meticulously choreographed for maximum sympathy.
“Jarred made you come here?” Sienna finally asked, her tone flat and unreadable.
Daisy flinched, then gave a slow, pathetic nod. “He… he said I had to apologize to you face-to-face. Or else… or else he would never let me see him again p>
“So you’re only here because you’re terrified of him cutting you off p>
Panic flared in Daisy’s eyes, and she quickly looked up, her rims brimming with well-timed tears. “No! That’s not it! I genuinely know I was wrong. Dr. Sloan, you have to believe me… I said exactly what Jarred told me to say, word for word p>
Looking at those bloodshot, pleading eyes, Sienna felt a bizarre urge to laugh.
Not because Daisy was a bad actress.
On the contrary, her performance was Oscar-worthy.
It was so flawlessly executed that if Sienna were just an average doctor, she might have actually bought into the girl’s remorse.
But Sienna had dealt with far too many manipulators in her life.
Celeste was one. Cora Vaughan was another. And the girl standing in front of her was the third.
They all operated on the delusion that a few tears and a display of absolute weakness could effortlessly brainwash the masses.
What they didn’t realize was that tears and feigned vulnerability were the exact tactics Sienna was most immune to.
Sienna’s voice remained strikingly composed. “When your mother first passed, I understood your anger. I really did. But now p>
She leaned in slightly, her predatory gaze piercing straight through Daisy’s tearful facade. “You already know the suicide note was forged. You know the real killer is still out there Yet here you are still playing there. Yet here you playing this pathetic game. What’s your endgame here p>
Daisy’s expression stiffened violently for a fraction of a second.
But her recovery was rapid, immediately reverting to her unjustly wronged, heartbroken persona.
“Dr. Sloan, how can you say that… I’m genuinely trying to make amends p>
“Are you?” Sienna straightened her posture, a faint, mocking smirk touching her lips. “What time is your flight p>
Daisy blinked, completely thrown off, but instinctively answered, “Three o’clock p>
“And your luggage p>
Daisy opened her mouth but no words came out.
Sienna answered for her. “Still sitting unpacked at your house, isn’t it? It’s past two o’clock right now. Your flight is at three, you haven’t packed a single bag, yet you’re lingering in this hospital lobby, clinging to me?
You genuinely believe that if you squeeze out à few tears and force me to forgive you, Jarred will suddenly view you as mature and reasonable? That he’llinstantly revoke the exile and let you stay by his side p>