Chapter 4 - THE ROBE OF SHAME
Sienna finally looked at me,
really looked at me.
The girl who had been so smug at The Plaza was gone.
In her place was a terrified young woman who realized she was wearing stolen property.
“The robe,”
she whispered.
“I didn't know.”
“You knew enough to go into my closet,”
I said.
“You knew enough to sleep in my bed.”
“Grant said you didn't care about these things anymore.”
I walked around the table toward her.
The lawyers watched me carefully.
Grant tried to stand,
but Arthur Bell put a hand on his shoulder.
“Stay seated,
Grant,”
Arthur warned.
I stopped in front of Sienna.
I reached out and touched the silk of the robe.
“This was a gift from my father,”
I said.
“He brought it back from Kyoto.”
“It’s hand-painted.”
“It carries the crest of a family that values honor above all else.”
I looked her in the eyes.
“You are not part of that family.”
She began to tremble.
“I’ll take it off.
I’ll leave.”
“You’ll leave when we’re finished with the disclosure,”
I said.
“But you will take off the robe.”
I looked at Grant.
“Did you think I wouldn't notice the perfume on the silk?”
“Did you think I was so blind I wouldn't see the different way the hangers were turned?”
Grant didn't answer.
He was staring at his hands,
which were shaking.
“I wanted a life that was mine,”
he muttered.
“Everything in this town belongs to your mother.”
“Everything in this town was built by her,”
I corrected.
“You were just invited to the table.”
“And you decided to eat the host.”
I turned back to Sienna.
“The coat too.”
She fumbled with the buttons of her camel coat.
She slipped it off,
revealing the black silk robe beneath.
Beneath the robe,
she was wearing a simple slip dress.
She looked vulnerable,
exposed,
and entirely out of her depth.
I took the robe from her hands.
I didn't put it on.
I walked over to the fireplace and dropped it onto the cold marble.
“I don’t want it back now,”
May you like
I said.
“It’s been contaminated.”
