Chapter 12 - SIENNA'S FATHER
Sienna did not know Samuel Reeves was her father.
At least not fully.
Her birth certificate listed Samuel Vale.
Her mother had remarried when Sienna was three.
Samuel Reeves had used Vale professionally for several years during an ugly dispute with a former employer.
The connection had disappeared from public records.
But Charles Sterling had documented it.
Vivian called Sienna.
They met in Daniel's office.
When Vivian placed Samuel's photograph on the table, Sienna stopped breathing.
"Where did you get that?"
"You know him?"
Sienna touched the edge of the picture.
"That's my father."
Daniel exchanged a glance with Vivian.
Sienna looked confused.
"He died when I was a baby."
"What were you told about his work?"
"That he was a software engineer."
"Did Adrian know?"
Sienna's face changed.
"Know what?"
"Who your father was?"
"I don't know."
Vivian already suspected the answer.
They searched Sienna's archived messages.
Three years earlier, Adrian had asked a strange question.
Did your mother ever keep your father's papers?
At the time, Sienna thought he was making conversation.
Another message asked whether her family owned any old computers.
Another asked about storage boxes.
Adrian knew.
Sienna stared at the messages.
"He hired me because of him."
Vivian said nothing.
Sienna stood.
"He told me I was exceptional."
"You may be."
"No."
Her voice cracked.
"He researched me."
Vivian understood the feeling too well.
"He found me."
Sienna looked at her.
"Like he found you."
The two women stared at each other.
For the first time, the slap at Bellamy felt very far away.
Adrian had targeted both of them for different reasons.
Vivian for capital.
Sienna for intellectual property.
Whether he later loved either woman no longer mattered.
He had entered both relationships carrying an undisclosed agenda.
Sienna sat slowly.
"My mother has boxes."
Vivian's eyes sharpened.
"What boxes?"
"My father's things."
"Where?"
"Storage unit in Queens."
They drove there that afternoon.
Sienna's mother joined them.
Marianne Vale was sixty-eight, suspicious of lawyers, and furious that anyone had reopened the past.
"My husband died with people calling him difficult."
She unlocked the unit.
"He wasn't difficult."
She looked at Sienna.
"He was angry."
"At Adrian?"
Marianne stopped.
"How do you know that name?"
Sienna stared at her.
"You knew?"
Marianne's shoulders dropped.
"Samuel mentored him."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Samuel made me promise."
"Why?"
"Because Adrian threatened litigation."
Vivian felt a familiar coldness.
"Over what?"
"The software."
Marianne opened a box.
Inside were notebooks.
Old drives.
Printed code.
Letters.
One envelope bore Adrian Caldwell's name.
Sienna picked it up.
Inside was a copy of a cease-and-desist letter Samuel had drafted but never sent.
It accused Adrian of using proprietary routing models developed during their work together.
Attached were dated source-code fragments.
Mara's forensic specialists would need weeks to determine ownership conclusively.
But Blackthorne did not have weeks.
Neither did Adrian.
Sienna sat on the concrete floor surrounded by her father's work.
Tears finally came.
Vivian did not comfort her.
Not because she lacked compassion.
Because Sienna seemed to need the truth more than comfort.
"He knew."
Sienna whispered.
"Probably."
"He hired me knowing exactly who my father was."
"Yes."
"He slept with me."
Vivian looked at her.
"Yes."
Sienna wiped her face.
"Why?"
Vivian answered carefully.
"Maybe he wanted you."
Sienna looked up.
"Maybe he wanted access."
Another tear fell.
"And maybe both can be true."
That was the ugliest possibility.
People preferred villains who felt nothing.
But real betrayal was often committed by people capable of affection and exploitation at the same time.
Vivian had learned that through marriage.
Sienna was learning it on a storage-unit floor.
Daniel called.
"Vivian."
"What happened?"
"Blackthorne filed."
"For what?"
"Emergency restructuring petition."
Her eyes closed.
Adrian was moving.
"Where?"
"Delaware."
"When?"
"Twenty minutes ago."
"What are they requesting?"
"Debtor-in-possession financing."
Vivian went still.
"If granted?"
"Blackthorne becomes senior to everyone on new money."
"Sterling?"
"Potentially subordinated on certain claims."
Sienna looked at her.
Vivian listened as Daniel continued.
"They're saying Caldwell Global faces imminent liquidity failure because Sterling disrupted refinancing."
Exactly the narrative Adrian had built.
Vivian destroyed jobs.
Sterling caused instability.
Blackthorne rescued the company.
Adrian remained in control.
"What is the hearing?"
"Tomorrow."
Vivian looked down at Samuel Reeves's notebooks.
Then at Sienna.
"We have twenty-four hours."
"For what?"
Daniel asked.
May you like
Vivian picked up the oldest notebook.
"To prove Adrian is trying to finance a company with technology he may never have owned."
