Page 51 of Heartless (Scathing Hearts #1)

Sienna

My fingers were still tight in the back of Jake’s hair and my body plastered to his when I pulled out of our kiss.

Jake had driven me to work, as he’d done every morning for the past week, and we were standing by his car in the parking lot of my office building. Our eyes were locked onto each other’s, and we didn’t move an inch.

“Get a fucking room,” an irate male voice grumbled behind me.

As the man stomped past us, Jake’s lips twitched. “See you tonight, beautiful.”

We were going to spend the next few days at the house. After another drugging kiss, I curled my arm around his waist, and we walked past Ruiz’s car on our way to the building entrance where Kelly was waiting.

He pecked my lips and jerked his chin at Kelly before prowling back to his car. God, the man gave new meaning to sex on legs.

Kelly’s amused voice cut through my heated thoughts. “Shall we?”

Work kept me busy all morning, and I was at my desk, typing an email when Sherry’s head peeked between the door jamb of Olly’s and my office.

“Sienna, do you have a minute?”

I kept typing. “I’ll just finish an email, and—”

Sherry’s long legs, dressed in her usual wide-legged pants—those ones in a maroon shade—stepped into the small office. “The email can wait. Come to the conference room.”

Then, she was gone. The conference room was only used for board meetings and the likes.

My heart sped up, and I turned to Olly. “Am I getting fired?”

His brows knit. “You should go. It sounds serious.”

“Right.”

I pushed from my desk, grabbed my notepad, and hooked my favorite pen on its spine with unsteady fingers. Then I rushed past the unmanned reception desk toward the dark, domineering room located at the end of the floor.

The door was ajar. I knocked anyway and entered. Sherry wasn’t alone. A woman of approximately the same age as her, and two middle-aged men were also there. Sherry’s expression was an odd mix of annoyance and disbelief as she waved me in.

“Sienna, come in,” my boss invited.

I pressed my notepad against my thumping chest. My pen dropped on the floor in a muted clack made louder by the heavy silence.

“Sorry,” I mumbled before picking it up and springing back up.

The woman had a sleek jet-black bob that contrasted with her pearl grey dress suit.

She was seated at the end of the rectangle table.

One of the men was standing a couple of feet away behind her armchair.

The other, who had a slightly more relaxed demeanor—which didn’t say much since the others’ gazes were dissecting me—was the first to approach me.

I instinctively shook his proffered hand. “Sienna, I’m Jason Storley.”

My heartbeat thumped with more force. Jason Storley was the owner and CEO of the publishing house, which made him Sherry’s boss. Was there such a thing as being more than fired? Sherry, standing beside him, sported a bewildered stare that must have mirrored mine.

“Don’t be alarmed. It’s a little unconventional, but I wanted to talk to you,” he said.

His tone was casual, but his gaze had this weird intensity. And why wouldn’t I be alarmed that the big boss I’d never met knew my name?

“All right.”

Jason Storley turned to my boss. “Thank you, Sherry.”

Ignoring the thinly veiled dismissal, she retorted, “Sienna is my employee, and I’m responsible for her.”

His mouth pinched. “This is personal, Sherry. Personal to Sienna, and I won’t be in the room either.”

But Sherry was having none of it. Shifting to face me, she dipped her frowning gaze into mine. “Sienna, are you comfortable with this?”

No, I wasn’t. But I was curious, so I nodded. When she walked past me, she touched my arm in a gesture I knew was meant to be reassuring.

As she neared the door, I said, “Sherry, Kelly and I are having lunch together, can you ask her to wait for me?”

“Sure,” Sherry replied before shutting the door behind her.

My boss’s boss introduced the two people left in the room. “Sienna, this is Evelyn Bradshaw and Adam Grady. They have a proposition for you.”

After mirroring their polite nod from across the table, I turned to Jason Storley. “What kind of proposition?”

It was the woman who replied. “Sienna, your father has asked us to speak with you on his behalf.”

My throat contracted. I’d left my cell at my desk. Shoot. Shoot.

I squeezed the edge of my notepad. Clearing my throat, I watched Jason Storley. “You’re Nigel’s friend.”

His face tilted in that same ‘poor you’ expression I’d seen a million times when I’d told people about Mom’s cancer. “Sienna, your dad is very ill. Gravely ill. I know you two are estranged, which is why I invited Ms. Bradshaw and Mr. Grady here, so they could speak to you privately.”

At my freaking place of work. Seriously?

But this was an office, and we were in the middle of the day. And Kelly knew where I was.

“Mr. Storley—”

Adam-something, rounded the table, wearing a creepily neutral expression. “Ms. Winslow, Mr. Morrison is in hospital. All he asked for was for you to hear his proposition. Please.”

“Is that even ethical to ambush me in my place of work?”

When Jason Storley stayed silent, the woman spoke. “Sienna, I’m sure you have questions. We’re here to answer all of them. And no one will force you to do anything you don’t want to.”

I did have questions for Nigel. Just one. I turned to Nigel’s friend. “I’ll talk to them.”

He notched his chin down. “I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed.”

As he strolled out of the room, I turned to Nigel’s people. “Doesn’t it bother you to work for someone so wretched?”

The man flinched, but the woman had no reaction. “Never mind. That was rhetorical.”

Sitting down, I clasped my hands on the table and breathed out the anger churning in the pit of my stomach.

****

Jake

I checked my wrist. My Sienna would be sending me a text before her lunch break soon.

Tam had mentioned a new taco truck not too far from her office. I was going to surprise my girl and enjoy watching her beautiful eyes light up when I took her there. I was two steps away from the door when Tam knocked.

“Come in.”

Instead of my assistant, Edo, Zook, and Sergio walked in, and my senses went on alert.

Tam was right behind them. “Jake—”

“Take the rest of the day off, Tam.”

While the men walked farther into my office, her gaze swung between the visitors and me before she tipped her head down. “I’ll see you next week.”

Edo and Zook sat in the two seats at the front of my desk while Sergio posted himself in front of the door.

After I’d settled behind my desk, Edo said, “I’m doing this in person because she’s your marker, and you’re family.”

Tension locked the back of my neck and my shoulders. “What happened?”

The head of The Family jerked his chin at Zook, who reached for the inside pocket of his jacket to retrieve his cell.

While Zook swiped the screen, Edo continued. “Morrison sent two of his lawyers to your girl’s office. The owner is one of his friends, and he arranged the meeting. One of the lawyers is working for us, and they sent the audio recording of the meeting.”

Zook tapped the ‘play’ triangle and set the device on my desk.

Sienna’s voice filtered through my office. “Is this the... proposition?”

A woman replied. “Your father asked us to draw it last week.”

The sound of paper fluttered in the silence before Sienna gasped. “This amount there... what does it mean?”

A man spoke out. “This is the amount you’ll receive.”

The breath she took was so sharp, it could be heard loud and clear. “There’re more amounts here. I don’t understand.”

The same female voice chuckled. “The first amount is a signing bonus. The following amounts are for each organ. The next pages are agreements for detailed medical insurance for the rest of your life.”

“Like a shopping list of body parts,” Sienna whispered.

Jesus fuck. My teeth gritted while Sienna said, “Since my organs are itemized and priced, does it mean I can donate one and refuse to donate the other?”

The man coughed. “What Mr. Morrison—”

“Sienna, we’ll be happy to change the wording of the agreement in terms you’ll find more appropriate,” the woman replied.

That cold anger filtered through her voice. “The wording won’t make it less dehumanizing.”

After silence had befallen the airwaves, the woman spoke again. “Sienna, your father said you were a writer. With this, you’ll be able to write without ever having to worry about money. You could even start your own publishing company.”

There was a clack. Then a pause before Sienna said, “I want to talk to Nigel.”

“We can answer any question you have—”

“If he wants me to consider this, I want to talk to him directly.”

The male voice interjected. “Ms. Winslow, your father is very sick—”

“And he’ll get sicker if I don’t sign those. Set a video call. I want to talk to Nigel.”

Pride swelled my chest at the firmness of her voice.

A long minute later, Morrison’s weakened voice could be heard. “My little dear.”

Her gasp was loud. “My God... Nigel.” The old fucker’s appearance must have been shocking. She cleared her throat. “Nigel, I need you to tell me the truth.”

“I’m dying, little dear. The truth is all I have.”

Background noise covered the next few seconds. Sienna said, “I’m okay, Kelly. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

At that, Zook glanced at me, and my gut tightened.

Sienna went back to her conversation with her genitor. “I know you have a file on me dating back to when I was fifteen. Why didn’t you make contact then?”

“I did, but Caitlin asked me to stay away.”

Fuck. No way of telling if he was lying.

Sienna’s voice shook. “When... when did you speak to her?”

“The day I learned you were my daughter, I came to your house to tell Caitlin I wanted to be a part of your life.” After a pause, he wheezed.

“You have to understand that the only thing your mother ever wanted was a child. She didn’t tell me she was pregnant.

She hid you from me for years, and she wouldn’t allow anyone to intrude in your life.

Even your father. Don’t be angry with her, little dear. She—”

“I’m not.” After a heavy sigh, she added, “If you so desperately wanted a relationship with me, why did you stop trying after one rejection?” He didn’t answer.

“Nigel, do you seriously expect me to believe that the man who tried to have me kidnapped would just go away because my mother asked him to?”

Muffled thumps could be heard again.

“Sienna, wait,” Morrison said. “Please, wait.” She must have remained in the room because he continued. “You’re right. I never approached your mother. But you need to understand that those are the ills of a man in my position. We get shaken down for money every day.”

“You mean by the women you impregnated? Nigel, you’re hardly the victim here.”

Someone in the room coughed. The old fucker kept talking.

“You want the truth? After enduring another false paternity claim, I asked someone to find anyone who could come after me. They found and investigated you and your mother just to be prepared for the day you knock on my door with your hand out like all the others.”

The silent pause stretched, and Sienna’s tone had lost its bite. “You could have helped when she was sick.”

“And I’m sorry I didn’t, little dear.”

Changing gear, Sienna asked, “What about Rowena?”

“What about her?”

“Nigel, she’s your daughter, and she wants a relationship with you. She’s been by your side since you’ve been sick, hasn’t she? Are you going to spend time with her?”

My Sienna was trying to save everyone.

“It depends on you, my dear. I cannot give her what I don’t have,” he replied.

I clenched my fists. Low fucking blow, motherfucker.

More scuffles could be heard. Morrison’s voice was feeble as shit. “Sienna, my dear, I must go. It’s unfortunate it had to come to this, but I wanted to thank you for saving my life. You won’t regret it.”

“Goodbye, Nigel,” she whispered.

There was pain in those words. The type of person she was, would want a relationship with her father even if that man was Morrison.

She cleared her throat. “If I sign this, who will know about it? Don’t contracts have to be recorded somewhere?”

The man’s tone was condescending as fuck. “No. Don’t worry, we were made aware of your... affiliations, and I can promise you the only people who’ll know are your father and the three people in this room.”

The woman’s voice had softened. “You’re a good person, Sienna. And soon, you’ll also be a very rich one.”

More paper jostling. “What are those arrow tabs for?”

“Your initials,” the man replied.

“Can I borrow your pen?”

My gut tightened. Baby, no.

When Zook tapped his cell off, my body tensed to snapping point.

“Your woman broke her word to me, Jake,” the patriarch of The Family said.

They were going to kill her.

I lunged. “Edo—”

Sergio’s hand moved to his gun, and I raised my palms.

Both men took to their feet, and Edo jerked his chin. “She won’t suffer. You have my word.”

“Where is she now?”

“My men have her. I wanted to speak to you before I give the order.”

I took a measured step toward him. “My life for hers.”

“Jake, you know it doesn’t work that way.”

“She’s young. She made a mistake, but you know she doesn’t deserve this. I’ll take her away. We’ll leave the country, and you’ll never hear from us again. I’m asking you as a friend, Edo.”

“This is business.”

My chest caved in. I approached the man holding my Sienna’s life in his hand. “You want me to beg? I’ll beg. I’ll work for you. I’ll give you the deeds of my family’s land and everything you—”

“You’d betray your principles and give me the land you’ve been fighting the whoreson for twenty years? Your legacy?”

“There’s no legacy without her.”

Zook’s cell chimed. “Edo, you need to see this.”

Edo took the cell from his brother’s hand. He swiped the screen twice, and when he showed it to me, my gut burned.