A Billionaire's Mistake

41|Tough Love

Chapter Forty-One: Tough Love

Lincoln

Three months later

My head is pounding as I stare at the expense reports from all the traveling I've had to do for the hotel renovations. The company's sales are skyrocketing all thanks to Sienna, but it still doesn't dislodge the lump in my throat from the numbers. I'm not used to spending this much. Not that I can't afford it now with all of this money coming in, but still. It's foreign territory for me.

"So, the next launch will be where?" Jett lifts his eyes to mine, fixing his tie to straighten it. I'm not sure how he's even breathing with it being that suffocating around his neck, but I don't comment on it. Since his recent display of maturity back during the media presentation in Los Angeles, I decided to let him sit in on our financial meetings until his next fuck up, which is bound to be soon.

"Atlanta," I reply. "The renovations at the LA location are going really well, and after the sales spiked from the media launch, I want to get moving on the other locations and repeat the same process. Get everyone talking across the country."

He nods, seeming impressed, and I hate the way my heart lurches from the satisfaction of it. I keep telling myself that I'm not seeking his approval, but my body continuously keeps fighting me on it.

And now I'm in a sour mood from talking about the LA location. I hate talking about that trip. So many things went wrong, all of which I didn't have the ability to fix. Travis is still out there along with probably others watching Sienna and I's every move, and the thought sickens me. It keeps me up at night. My stomach rolls with nausea, my jaw clenching in response.

Travis took away everything Sienna worked so hard for. That night she told me she needed me in order to sleep broke my heart. I'm not possessive to the point of wanting to own her, so that sentence wasn't romantic and didn't make me feel proud. It broke me.

When I first met her, she told me she would never need a man, and that stupid fuck took all of that confidence from her in a single night. I promise if it's the last thing I do, I'll get her back to that place again. I'll build her up and instill that badass independent woman that's buried underneath a mountain of trauma.

Jett rakes a hand through his blonde unruly curls that he surprisingly left down from his man bun today. He always looks like he stepped right out of a Gucci catalog, but today he decided to look a bit more relaxed, which is strange.

As the finance meeting comes to a close, the staff follows out, leaving Jett and me alone. I'm still not used to having alone time with my brother, especially when we haven't had small talk in years. Thankfully, knocks on the door interrupt me, and Carmen pokes her head in, a person I definitely wasn't expecting to see.

I wave her in, and she steps into the room carrying a vase of roses covering her chest. She peeks up above the tops of the flowers. "Any idea where Margo is? Riley wanted me to drop these off to her."

Unable to hide my smile, I point at my desk for her to set them down. "She's out on an errand for me. I'll make sure she gets them."

She raises a brow. "Checking on Sienna?"

I despise that Sienna's best friends have come to know me far more than I'd like them to. Then again, I think anyone in a two-foot radius of me could tell that Sienna is my weak spot. I think she always will be.

Jett clears his throat from beside me, and I roll my eyes as he moves his gaze across her dark brown skin, down her gray dress that hugs her curves to her baby pink heels and white painted toes. He looks like a drooling dog. "I don't think we've been introduced," he says.