The Billionaire’s Forbidden Desire(96)
He pulled his arm until her hand fell into his palm. “You may be fine, but I’m not. They’ll show you the respect you deserve. And next time, contact me immediately when they pull this kind of stunt.”
Vanessa blinked a few times. “You’re actually serious.”
“As a cardiac arrest. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. Don’t test me, Vanessa. You know what an asshole I can be.” His lips curled. “The only reason I’m not going to ruin you for this is because you’re my family, and Shirley asked me to be nice. But not even her dying wish will keep you safe next time.”
He led Sophia out, a protective hand on the small of her back. When they got back outside, her chauffeur jumped to his feet. “Mr. Pryce.”
“You’re fired. Consider yourself lucky that’s the only thing I’m doing.”
She stopped. “Dane.”
“He didn’t do his job right. It’s not his job to make things easier for my family to bully you.” He opened the door to his car. “Get in. We’re finished here.”
She did, then turned to him as soon as he was inside as well. “How did you even know I was at your sister’s?”
“The GPS system.” He looked straight ahead, driving away from the house. “It texts me your location every time the car’s parked.”
The nerve! “You were spying on me?” She crossed her arms.
“No. I was making sure you didn’t somehow convince Josephine to set a budget you were comfortable with.”
“I highly doubt I would’ve been able to do that.”
“You underestimate your powers of persuasion. Anyway, it was a good thing that I set it up. Otherwise who knows what those women would’ve done.”
“Dane, those women are your family—or practically—and they’re worried.” She sighed, uncrossing her arms. “And how can you blame them? You thought the worst of the situation when I first showed up in the city.”
His knuckles tightened. “Are you still upset about that?”
“Of course not. I’m just trying to show you how unreasonable you’re being.”
“You have no idea how patient and reasonable I am right now. You don’t know what I wouldn’t do to keep you protected.”
* * *
It didn’t matter what Sophia did, how much she cajoled. Dane wouldn’t discuss the incident. But she didn’t believe he would really sic his lawyers on Josephine…would he?
The only thing he’d done was buy her more clothes than she could possibly wear. After taking her home, he had somebody come to the penthouse to get her measurements and deliver twenty boxes of clothes, underwear and shoes within three hours.
“If you tell me what you’re going to do to Vanessa for real, I’ll keep them,” Sophia said, eyeing the piles with unease. They were excessive. On the other hand, he never did anything by half-measures. She should’ve expected this.
His expression remained bland. “If you don’t keep the clothes, I’ll sue my sister for sure.”
“At least hire the driver back.”
“Absolutely not. I don’t pay people who can’t complete their job to my satisfaction.”
“It was an honest mistake. He probably had no idea what they were going to do and just took me to the address Josephine gave him.”
“So you do admit it was her fault.”
“No!”
“The discussion’s over, Sophia. They knew what they were getting into.”
She snapped her mouth shut. Knowing why he was doing this made it harder for her to stay angry with him for refusing to discuss it further. On the other hand… “You can’t sue people every time you don’t like what they do.”
“Sure I can. Why else do you think I have a law firm on retainer?” He placed his credit card on the counter. “I have to go back to the office, so take this and treat yourself to something nice. A spa or massage or something. And sorry about my asshole family.”
Her arms crossed, she glared at the credit card. Like she was actually in any mood for a spa treatment!
Maybe he’d be more amenable after work. If nothing else it’d give him some time to calm down.
But he remained impossible. Not even a fabulous Chinese dinner could change his mind.
“You’re so unforgiving. Are you always like this?” she asked.
“When it involves you, yes.”
“Argh!”
She plopped down on the couch and turned on her tablet. There was no point anymore. She was going to read and see if it helped her relax.
Dane didn’t try to talk to her. Instead he reviewed work documents.
When she changed and crawled into bed a few hours later and put her arm on his chest, Dane cocked an eyebrow.