Chapter 47: Not simple

At another part of the city, in the corporate looking environment...

Sienna stood in the middle of her office with a length of deep emerald silky fabric draped across her hands. The early afternoon light coming through the tall windows caught the material, showing the subtle shift in tone as she turned it and she peered hard at it as if it was the color that was her problem. It was not.

She had been comparing the material itself against two other options for the better part of twenty minutes, but her focus kept slipping.

An hour had passed since the towing crew was supposed to handle the car and give her feedback. No messages. No missed calls. The absence of an update sat under her skin like a low, constant pressure.

"The instruction was, give me feedback after a clean job. What the heck is stopping them from reporting back?" She thought inwardly as she tried to focus.

She couldn’t. She exhaled sharply and decided she was done waiting.

She set the fabric down on the long worktable and picked up her phone. She unlocked the screen, found the number she had saved under a neutral name, and called.

The line rang once.

Twice. Three times but it wasn’t answered.

"What the fuck!" Sienna snarled.

She exhaled through her mouth as she ended the call, then she waited three seconds, and dialled again. This time the man answered on the fourth ring, his voice coming out carefully quiet.

"Yes?"

"Yes? Aren’t you supposed to be giving me a feedback? What is going on? You were supposed to handle it over an hour ago." Sienna asked, keeping her tone level, even though she was boiling with anger.

There was a short pause on the other end. She could almost hear the man choosing his words.

"I’m sorry, ma’am but the action didn’t go as planned." the man replied, his tone suddenly becoming overly polite.

Sienna’s fingers curled tightly around the phone. "What does that mean?" Sienna’s voice came out as a whisper, she had a good guess of what that meant and already dreaded it.

"Something came up. Something I can’t really explain over the phone."

"Try. Just explain it anyhow" she insisted.

There was another pause from the other end, longer this time. When the man spoke again, his voice had the strained quality of someone searching for a safe excuse.

"The amount that was paid... after review, it wasn’t enough to properly cover everything on our side. You know what I mean..."

TThe man hadn’t finished before Sienna cut in angrily.

"No, I don’t know what you mean. The heck you mean?"

The man cleared his throat before replying;

"Okay, fine. Let’s cut the story short. If you still want the job completed, we will need a higher figure."

Sienna opened her mouth then closed it, no word coming out. Afterwards, she stared at the far wall of her office. For a moment she didn’t speak. The fabric samples, the mood boards, the half-finished sketches pinned to the board - all of it felt distant.

"I already paid you," she began, each word precisely landing sharply; "A clean amount. I didn’t even negotiate or price it down. And you are telling me that after failing to deliver, you still want more?"

"It’s not that simple -"

"It is that simple." Sienna cut in again, her voice stayed controlled, but the edge underneath it sharpened. "You took the job. You failed to complete it. And now you’re attempting to renegotiate as if you still have leverage. You do not."

"We-" The man started to reply. However, Sienna ended the call before he finished the first word.

"What the hell! These fucking conmen!" She gnashed, her grip on her phone tightening so much it hurt her.

She stood still for several seconds, before she later lowered her phone and exhaled through her nose. The irritation sat hot and tight in her chest.

Then, she dialled the house.

One of the bodyguards answered on the first ring.

"Did anyone come to the property after I left?" Sienna asked.

"Yes, ma’am. Men from a towing company. They asked for Mr. Harlow. He went out to speak with them."

Sienna’s eyes narrowed slightly. "That’s all?"

"Yes, ma’am. They left after a short conversation. Nothing else."

"Okay."

She blinked repeatedly in surprise as she ended the call and set the phone down on the table with more care than she felt. For a moment she simply stood there, staring at the emerald fabric without seeing it. Tom had handled them. Somehow. The quiet, accommodating man who used to accept whatever she decided had looked at a problem she arranged and removed it without needing to come to her.

The realisation sat uncomfortably in her mind.

"How did he do it?"

"What did he tell them?"

Sienna turned the questions over and over in her head.

After a moment, a soft knock sounded at the door. Sienna straightened her shoulders and smoothed her expression before calling for the person to enter.

Her personal assistant stepped inside with a tablet in hand, her expression kept professional as always.

"I have an update," the assistant said.

"Miss Marchetti’s office just called. Her pre-wedding shoot has been postponed to early afternoon. They confirmed they will still be using the pieces from the collection, and they expect you on site for styling as previously arranged."

Sienna nodded once. "Alright. Make sure everything is packed and ready. We will leave by 12."

"Yes, ma’am."

The assistant hesitated half a second, as if waiting to see if there was anything else, then left the office and closed the door quietly behind her.

Sienna remained where she was. The irritation from the failed tow had not faded. If anything, the ordinary rhythm of work resuming around it made the feeling sharper.

Her nostrils flared in annoyance as she wondered how exactly Tom had handled the men.

When she couldn’t find an answer, she reached out and picked up the emerald fabric again, forcing her attention back to the weight and drape of it between her fingers.