He gave her a warm smile before tapping a series of numbers and commands into his phone. “Done.” He returned his attention to Reynard’s grunt. “Paid. In full. With the rest of this week’s interest.”
The man narrowed his eyes.
James slipped his phone back into his pocket and smiled. A cold, threatening smile. The smile he used in the boardroom whenever destroying a career or rival. “Tell Reynard if he even thinks about approaching Sienna or Zachary again, he’ll discover just how far my reach is. Understand?”
A sneer pulled at the man’s lips. “And you are?”
“James Dyson.”
Bushy black eyebrows shot up the man’s forehead.
James let his smile turn colder. “Trust me, Reynard—and those working for him—don’t want to know what happens to anyone foolish enough to hurt the people I love. Understand?”
Reynard’s lackey nodded, shot Sienna and Zach a quick glance, and then climbed into the van.
James didn’t move until the engine kicked over and the vehicle pulled away from the gutter. Then, and only then, he released a long breath. “Christ, that was fun.”
Sienna stepped directly in front of him, eyes wide. “Are you insane?”
He chuckled, even as the need to pull her into his arms crashed through him. He didn’t. He couldn’t.
She blinked. “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you?” Awe and uncertainty wobbled through Zach’s suggestion.
James smiled at him and at Thomas before turning back to Sienna. “You don’t need to say anything. And, no, I didn’t do what I just did to make you forgive me for being a prick. What I did was unforgivable.”
“Hell, yeah,” Thomas agreed.
James threw him a silencing look.
Thomas shrugged, looking unperturbed. “Hey, just calling it like it is. By the way, I should tell you I didn’t get on to the cops. I kept dialing 911. I have no goddamn clue what number you guys dial here.”
With a dry laugh, James turned back to Sienna. His heart thumped hard in his chest. His pulse did the same in his ears. He studied her eyes, aching to see anything that would give him hope they’d one day have a future.
Instead, all he found was guarded confusion.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “For what I’d intended to do to you. For how much I’ve hurt you. Please believe me when I say that.”
She nodded. Once. Silently. Her eyes shone with an emotion he had no hope of deciphering.
Throat tight, he looked at Zach. “You’re right. I am a fuckwit. One day, I hope you and your sister will let me amend that.”
Zachary regarded him, as silent as Sienna.
He looked at Thomas. “See you around, yank.”
Thomas answered with a sympathetic smile. He turned back to Sienna, the barest of glances, and hurried into her home to retrieve his shirt, shoes, car keys, and wallet. As much as he didn’t want to leave, Thomas was right. She needed time to think.
He would give her time.
After everything else he’d done, he owed her that.
…
Mouth dry, heart rapid, Sienna studied the closed door to her warehouse. He was in there. Getting ready to leave.
All she needed to do to stop him was go to him.
And yet she couldn’t. What he’d planned to do to her…what he already had done…
An invisible knot twisted in her stomach, and she bit back a sigh. Damn it, the bastard…the bastard…
What the hell should she do?
Thomas cleared his throat. “Does it help if I say what Mason…what James did to you was wrong? Completely misinformed and misguided?”
She tore her stare from the closed door and looked at him.
He gave her a lopsided smile. “But I know him. Better than most people in his life. He keeps who he really is guarded, protected. Those that live in the public eye, under constant scrutiny tend to do that. James…he’s spent a lifetime cultivating the ruthless Dyson persona, but he’s not like that deep down. He isn’t. He thinks he has to be, though. His father did a pretty good job on him. But his true nature? Caring. Empathetic. Passionate. Relaxed. I’ve never seen him let it out in public before, but he did with you. At the gallery. And I’ve never seen him smile like he did when he was with you.”