Harvey’s salt-and-pepper eyebrows shot up. “Now I am curious. Is this serious?”
James changed the topic. The last thing he wanted was his father picking at the unnerving subject of Sienna “I’ve just signed Denison to join NewsWatch.”
Eric Denison was Australia’s hottest TV anchor. Harvey had spied the edgy journalist on a rival network and had wanted him, like a junkie wants a hit, for his Current Affairs program. He’d tasked James with the job of signing him. Immediately.
It had taken James an incredible effort to get the man. Denison was still young enough to have ethics, and naive enough to believe in the integrity of a contract. But James never took no for an answer. Ever. After months of courting and negotiation, he convinced the journalist to join the DMC team. Denison now belonged to Harvey and DMC, sucked in by the power he assumed would come with the move. And seduced by the money waved in front of him.
James had discovered a long time ago that when it came to morals and ethics, everyone had a price in the end.
What will be Sienna’s?
“Damn, son.” Harvey’s burst of glee bounced around the office. “Well done. How much has he cost us? No. Don’t tell me. I don’t care. He’ll make it back and then some.”
“If he doesn’t?”
Harvey’s gray eyes turned vicious. “His career’s dead.”
James smiled without humor. Heaven help Denison if he failed to meet Harvey Dyson’s expectations. His father wasn’t kidding. He would destroy the boy’s career with just one phone call.
An uncharacteristic chill rippled through him. He turned and studied the Sydney skyline outside. His father couldn’t see his discomfort. Harvey never thought twice about annihilating an enemy. It was a trait James had not only inherited but embraced. Hesitation and compassion were weaknesses.
So why was he feeling unsettled about the possibility of a young journalist’s career being destroyed?
Is that really what’s unsettling me?
An image of Sienna whispered through his head.
He ground his teeth. She was definitely an enemy of the Dyson family. If Harvey discovered Sienna’s fatal manipulation of his youngest son, she would never survive. He would be satisfied with nothing less than her total and utter destruction. People only suspected how ruthless his father was.
James knew.
Isn’t what I plan to do to her just as savage? As brutal? Build her up until she’s on top of the world and then destroy that world beneath her? Not exactly the actions of a compassionate man.
A chill squeezed its way around his heart, a chill that had no damn place being there.
“I’m off.” Harvey’s booming declaration shuddered through him. He sat motionless, watching his father rise to his feet. “Things to do, people to screw.” His father chuckled at his own crude witticism before heading toward the door. “Enjoy.”
Alone, James rocked back in his chair, returning his gaze back to the window. His father screwed many people, both in the metaphorical and literal sense. Not a day went by without an article appearing in one of DMC’s rival media outlets condemning Harvey’s predatory methods. Most were true.
James’s rivals accused him of being just as rapacious and heartless. It was, in his opinion, a compliment. In today’s cutthroat world, the weak wilted and died. He was not weak. And yet here he was, harboring doubt over his plans for the woman responsible for his brother’s death?
What would they think now of Harvey Dyson’s prodigal son if they knew of the unnerving sense of guilt twisting through his gut whenever he thought too deeply about Sienna’s fate? James Dyson had a heart? Impossible. Unbelievable.
No. It would do him no good if he did. A heart could be touched. A heart was a weakness. Sienna had it coming. He couldn’t feel guilt.
He ground his teeth, staring at the city beyond the glass. “Bury it. Just bury it.”
“Bury what?”
He swung around to face the owner of the husky female voice.
“Is there a family reunion that I’m not aware of?” He studied the blonde dressed in blood-red leather strutting toward him. “Or is my younger sister here to ask for money?”
Lindsey dropped with her typical elegant disdain into the chair so recently vacated by their father and leveled a cool, gray stare at him. “So who are you screwing now?”