Chapter 2

• (Sienna)
• The bathroom door slammed open and Erica burst inside with the warden and two guards behind her. Everything happened so fast I didn’t even fully see it through my tears — but hands were grabbing Barb, ripping her body off mine, shouts filled the bathroom and the lighter clattered across the tiles. The guards pinned Barb against the wall as she screamed every foul curse she could string together.
• “Enough!” the warden barked, one of the guards yanked my arm gently, pulling me up from the floor as my chest heaved violently in shallow painful breaths.
• As they dragged Barb out kicking and spitting, I caught Erica’s pale terrified face. She looked like she was going to collapse.
• “Sienna, I didn’t know what else to do,” she whispered, her voice trembling, “I had to create a huge commotion to get them here. I thought they were going to kill you if I didn’t . . .” Her voice broke.
• I only gave a weak breathless nod before the guards led me away to the infirmary.
• The doctor stitched the gash across my forehead, the antiseptic stung like fire piercing straight into my skull, but I stayed silent.
• Pain had been my longest companion. After all this time… I was used to enduring quietly.
• When I finally returned to the cell, Erica sprang toward me before I could even sit down. She wrapped her arms around me tight in a hug.
• “I thought I was going to lose you before you even stepped out of here,” she whispered against my shoulder.
• I let out a small breath and a faint pained smile “Even when I walked into trouble on purpose. You still saved me. Thank you for everything.
• Her arms squeezed tighter, but still gentle enough not to flare my bruises.
• Words couldn’t express my gratitude, somehow this one person remained human in this place that tried to strip all humanity out of us.
• “I’m going to miss you,” I murmured.
• Erica pulled back slowly, her eyes were glassy now. “Don’t forget who you are… outside. Don’t let them take from you again.”
• I swallowed.
• Then, I nodded. But I wasn’t sure what part of “me” was even left.
• ***
• Morning came quickly.
• They walked me down the hall. My body was slow and sore. The stern middle aged warden waited at the exit with my old clothes sealed in a clear bag, like proof of the girl I used to be before my life was sold away.
• I changed silently and came back out.
• “If you break any law, you’ll be sent straight back here!” She warned.
• All I did was nod weakly. I used to imagine this moment, I’ve dreamt about how freedom would taste after three years of being locked up for taking the fall for someone else's recklessness.
• I thought I would be relieved, overjoyed, instead, everything inside me felt heavy and bitter.
• Three years of my life were gone just like that, snuffed like a weak candlelight.
• The cold morning air blasted me across the face as the gate closed behind me with a loud final metallic groan.
• I looked up above and blinked at the sunlight and a sky that felt too big, too bright after years of being confined.
• Where would I go from here?
• Then, I heard the noise of an engine cutting short even before I saw it, a familiar sleek black Bugatti pulled up in front of me, its tire screeching loudly against the concrete and silence of the confinement area.
• The hurt in my chest was sharp and immediate. It was worse than the physical pain of being shoved hard against that bathroom sink. Right now, it felt like someone had their fingers wrapped around my throbbing heart, squeezing painfully with each beat.
• I knew the car, and the owner.
• The window rolled down, revealing a cold face filled with impatience, one I was all too familiar with.
• Lucas Miller.
• My brother.
• One of the four boys who never once saw me as their sister, even after the DNA confirmed I was the real daughter. He looked annoyed to even be here. Even after three years, he still had the same cold indifference in his eyes.
• In the past, that expression would have terrified me, I would beg to know what I did wrong and do my best to correct it and even then it was never enough for him.
• Now, I could only scoff at how silly and naive I’d been.
• “Get in,” He barked impatiently. His gaze regarded me with nothing short of disgust, I know I have shabby clothes on and probably looking like I was straight out of a horror movie but what did he expect? A supermodel in a designer dress?
• It didn’t matter if I had to limp the rest of the way, I would never get into his car! I would never return to that house. All that was left for me now was to find Claire, this was at least one thing to look forward to.
• Ignoring him, I walked forward, and I could hear him yelling after me in that commanding voice that used to make me so afraid. “Are you deaf?! I said get in the car, don’t waste everyone’s time, mom and dad are waiting to welcome you,”
• Mom and dad? Welcome?
• Anger boiled through me, making my jaw ache from how tight my teeth clenched.
• The family who discovered I was their real blood daughter, and still chose Elaine, a girl who wasn’t even biologically theirs, over me every single time? The same family who forced me into prison for a crime I didn’t commit, just to preserve their perfect little doll who pretended to be gentle and kind while manipulating every one of them against me? They abandoned me so cruelly and without hesitation, that my first foster family felt like heaven.
• I remembered my childhood so clearly, a junkie abusive foster father and the silent foster mother who was always too numb to care, and the only good thing I ever had was Claire, my little sis from the foster home.
• My joy was out of this world when I found my real family at fifteen, I had thought God finally gave me one good thing and I would finally belong somewhere.
• I begged the Millers to take Claire too, but they refused despite paying a huge amount to my foster family for me.
• I was barely tolerated while they doted on Elaine, the girl who replaced me. And in the end, when Elaine pushed Damon Ravenford’s little sister down the stairs out of jealousy and destroyed that girl’s entire life, they all turned to me like I was the perfect convenient sacrifice.
• Sienna would survive prison because she had survived worse. Elaine could not.
• That was all that mattered to them.
• They'd even gone as far as to use Claire to manipulate my compliance.
• In my mother's words. “Do it for your sister, she's fragile and can't survive prison, if there's anything you can do for our family then this is it Sienna, you're the only one that can save her.”
• Alfred Miller, my birth father, persuaded me alongside my cold brothers. “You’ve always wanted Claire over, right? Do this and we can help you get custody of her,”
• I didn’t want to, but they were finally agreeing to bring Claire to me, she was just a child, how lonely and traumatic it must be for her alone in the foster home without her big sister to look after her.
• I knew if I wanted a better life for Claire, then I had to do it.
• “Think about it, Sienna. It's only going to be for a few months, we’ll get you out in no time, please, it just can't be Elaine, trust me.” Mom had told me in those words.
• It just can't be Elaine but it can be me?
• They can't bear to see her suffer but they didn't bat an eyelid pushing me into prison.
• Dad said few months but that wasn't the case.
• I waited.
• Months turned into a year, an another three years and never for once did they visit.
• The sound of door slamming behind me snapped me to reality and hastened my steps. I could hear Luca’s footsteps behind me and all of a sudden, an iron grip yanked my wrist, forcing me to spin around.
• His glare was harsh "Have you had enough of your tantrums? You should be grateful, Mom was so worried about you, she even pulled strings to get you out earlier! And here I am, to make sure you get home safely,”
• “Home?” The words escaped my mouth with a bitter laugh, fury blazed my chest as I yanked my hands free from his clasp. “ I don’t have a home anymore. I should be grateful? Is that what you just said?” I snarled, meeting his stare pointedly with as much hate as I could muster.
• “Yes, I should be grateful for serving time for a crime I didn’t commit, I got hurt, starved and tortured every day, but of course, your mommy pulled some strings, so here I am, now we can return to home happy home, isn’t it?!”
• His jaw clenched, he stared at my face as though seeing me for the first time, anyone with eyes would see bandaged bruises and dried blood. I didn’t expect him to be concerned, and I didn’t get it.
• His jaw only clenched as he stared at his watch. “Don’t be stupid, Sienna. If you want to see Claire again… you better get in!”