CHAPTER EIGHTY FIVE – DOWN TO BRASS TACKS

At every turn, her story checked out. She provided direct access to her adoptive parents, who corroborated taking in a newborn Sienna decades ago only to have her reenter their lives recently in search of her biological roots. There were even old letters and mementoes from the aunt who'd spilled the truth, offering iron-clad proof of her heritage tracing back to Barbara Storm. With each fresh exoneration, each conspicuous show of evidence bolstering Sienna's version of events, Kayla felt the ground becoming more and more tenuous beneath her. What if she'd simply been too jaded, too primed by past betrayals to accept this reunion at face value? Her misgivings only compounded when Lance himself started exhibiting a palpable thawing toward his sister. Almost overnight, his defensive hostility gave way to warmth and acceptance as Sienna slowly integrated herself into his world. It was a subtle shift at first - the two shepherding in the construction of a new youth center funded by Stor