The following morning in Silver City.
7:45 AM
Her brain processed the numbers slowly.
Then—
"What the heck... I'm late!" she screamed in shock.
Quickly, she threw the blanket aside and jumped out of bed, as if the mattress had caught fire.
She ran toward the bathroom.
"I'm dead. How can I be late for such an important meeting with Sterling Capital?" she muttered, staring at her pale, sleepy reflection in the mirror.
Her morning meeting will start at nine, but she is still in her pajamas.
"Congratulations, Sienna...You just personally delivered a punishment proposal to your boss. Good job!"
Her boss, Angie Feliz, was not famous for her patience. In fact, patience might actually have been her natural enemy.
"This is how your career ends," she continued, trying to humor herself between mouthfuls of toothpaste. "One peaceful morning, and suddenly you're unemployed."
Usually, she would have been halfway to the metro near her apartment by now. But today, her routine had entirely fallen apart.
Still, she couldn't entirely blame herself. After all, she had returned to her apartment close to midnight the previous night.
The terrifying incident in Evercrest had drained every bit of energy she had left. Her father's betrayal in trying to sell her to the gangster boss, the chase through the hospital, and the long train ride back had left her body and mind completely exhausted.
Her brain had simply decided to shut down.
Unfortunately, real life didn't pause just because someone needed time to recover mentally and emotionally.
Within ten minutes, Sienna was fully dressed.
Sienna hurried down the street. Luckily, a taxi pulled up at the corner sooner than expected.
"Thank you, universe," she whispered as she quickly opened the door and slipped inside.
As she entered the taxi, she reached into her bag for her cell phone.
She had kept her cell phone off since the previous night, not because she was scared of her father. Well… maybe a little. But mostly because she was too tired to deal with whatever chaos might pop up on the screen.
Her father and aunt would definitely try to call her. Probably repeatedly. Possibly hundreds of times. They might even have their whole family contact her and send someone to find her.
For a brief moment, Sienna stared at her cell phone.
'Should I turn it on?'
Before she could decide, the taxi driver suddenly asked, "Miss, where do you want to go?"
"...Imperial Hotel," she said hurriedly. "And… please drive faster. I'm late for my morning meeting."
The driver glanced at the clock on his dashboard and gave a small, understanding nod. The taxi moved quickly into the morning traffic.
She leaned back in her seat. Her attention shifted back to her cell phone, her gaze fixed on the dark screen.
Sienna already knew what she would find if she turned on her cell phone: missed calls and text messages from her father, her aunt, and probably half her extended family, all neatly packed into glowing notifications.
Slowly, she pressed the power button.
The phone lit up.
And almost immediately, it began vibrating.
Sienna watched the screen fill with notifications without much surprise. Missed calls stacked one after another, followed by message alerts, emails, and even a few social media notifications she hadn't expected.
'Well,' she thought as she glanced at the list of missed calls, 'it looks like the entire Adams family held a meeting about me last night.'
Her father's number appeared repeatedly on the screen. Right below it were several calls from her aunt Jenny. A few cousins had also tried to reach her, which meant the news had probably spread quickly through the family.
Without hesitation, she opened the contact list and began blocking them one by one.
However, just as she finished blocking them, a text message caught her attention.
She hesitated for a brief moment before opening it.
"Sienna, I know I haven't always been the perfect father. But everything I've done has always been for your own good. A father only wants to protect his daughter's future."
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
The message continued.
"You misunderstood what happened yesterday. You ran away before we could explain things properly. You embarrassed me in front of important people, and now the situation has become very difficult for me."
Sienna stared at the screen for a moment, feeling a mixture of disbelief and irritation. Her father had tried to sell her to a gangster boss… and now he was talking about embarrassment?
Just as she was about to delete the message, another text message caught her attention.
"Sienna, my daughter, this might be the last message you ever receive from your father. Boss Juan is extremely angry now. He said if you don't come back, he will kill me."
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
"You are a kind daughter. I know you won't let something happen to me. If you return and meet him, everything can be resolved. A daughter should help her father in trouble. Don't let your father die because of stubbornness."
If she hadn't overheard the conversation in the hospital room the previous day, she might have believed every word of his text.
She might have rushed back to Evercrest immediately, terrified that something terrible would happen to her father.
That was exactly the reaction he expected.
But things were different now.
Yesterday had changed something inside her.
The image of her father laughing casually about selling her to settle his gambling debt was still clear in her mind. That single moment had erased years of excuses she had made for him.
Sienna locked the phone and slipped it back into her bag.
Her gaze drifted toward the window as the taxi continued moving through the hectic streets of Silver City.
A bitter laugh echoed in her chest.
'If Boss Juan kills you, then so be it. I won't shed a tear. I won't even look back.'
The weight of those thoughts should have horrified her. Instead, they set her free.
Sienna leaned slightly forward and glanced at the digital clock displayed on the taxi's dashboard.
'Gosh! I'm definitely late...'
She straightened in her seat and looked toward the driver with urgency.
"Sir, if you could drive a little faster, I would be extremely grateful."
Being chased by gangsters the previous night had certainly been stressful.
But arriving late to a morning meeting with a major client like Sterling Capital? Somehow, that seemed like a disaster on a different level.