Chapter 2
Sienna delivered a healthy baby boy eleven hours later.
They named him Julian.
Gavin was not in the room.
Nico stayed outside during the delivery because Sienna wanted only her doctor and nurse with her.
Mila waited with him.
At 4:18 the next morning, Sienna finally agreed to hear the recording.
Rebecca Sloan arrived first.
She had handled Sienna’s estate planning and several legitimate Ferrante family matters.
She took Mila’s phone, made a forensic copy, and left the original untouched.
“This is not going online,” she said.
Nico gave her a look.
“I wasn’t planning to post it.”
“I was mostly speaking to your cousins.”
Fair.
Rebecca played the recording from the copy.
The audio began with garage noise.
Gavin’s voice.
“…Monday morning. Once escrow releases, it’s done.”
Then Marjorie.
“What if she calls the bank?”
“She won’t. She’ll be in the hospital.”
Sienna looked at Nico.
The recording continued.
Marjorie:
“And the old authority?”
Gavin:
“Still valid unless she revoked it properly.”
A pause.
Then:
“She never even remembers signing it.”
Sienna’s expression changed.
Gavin continued.
“I use it once. The refinance closes. Then I tear it up.”
Marjorie said:
“You should have fixed this months ago.”
Gavin answered:
“I was waiting until after the baby.”
Then footsteps.
Sienna’s voice in the distance:
“Waiting for what?”
The recording became chaotic.
That was when Gavin realized she had heard them.
Then came the sounds of the hospital bag hitting concrete.
The shove.
Mila crying.
Gavin saying:
“You heard too much. Have the baby without me.”
Rebecca stopped the file.
Nobody spoke.
Nico’s first question was:
“What old authority?”
Sienna shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca asked:
“Have you ever given Gavin power of attorney?”
“No.”
She hesitated.
Then:
“Maybe.”
Everyone looked at her.
Sienna closed her eyes.
“When Mila was born.”
Seven years earlier, Sienna had suffered severe postpartum hemorrhaging after an emergency delivery.
For several hours, doctors were concerned she might require additional surgery.
Before the birth, the hospital had encouraged her to update emergency documents because Gavin was her husband but some Ferrante assets remained separately owned.
A lawyer had come to the hospital.
There had been papers.
Medical directives.
Temporary banking authority.
Something allowing Gavin to deal with insurance and bills while Sienna recovered.
“I was twenty-three,” she whispered.
“I had been awake almost thirty hours.”
Rebecca’s expression changed.
“Who was the lawyer?”
“Someone Gavin’s mother knew.”
Nico stood.
Sienna looked at him.
“Dad.”
He stopped.
“No one visits Gavin.”
“I wasn’t—”
“No threats.”
Nico looked offended.
Rebecca interrupted.
“She’s right.”
Nico stared at both women.
Rebecca continued.
“If that document exists and he used it, the fastest way to destroy the case is to make him afraid enough to start hiding things.”
Nico sat again.
Rebecca looked at Sienna.
“We find the document first.”
May you like
The mystery was no longer about Monday.
It was about a piece of paper Sienna barely remembered signing seven years earlier.
