Did you move on?
The question haunted me now, echoing in the silence of the hotel room.
Because I hadn't. Not really. I'd buried myself in work, in the family, in proving I could be the son my father needed after Daniel died. But late at night, when the adrenaline faded and I was alone, it was Ivy's face I saw. Ivy's laugh I remembered.
Ivy, who'd looked at me tonight like she wanted to either kiss me or kill me.
Maybe both.
I poured another drink.
Tomorrow, I had a meeting set up with one of the Donatis. Casual, exploratory. Feeling out whether they'd be receptive to an alliance or if my father's ambitions would need to take a more aggressive route. It was the kind of work I was good at. Reading people, finding weaknesses, turning conversations into opportunities.
But tonight, all I could think about was the way Ivy's voice had cracked when she'd told me to go to hell.
The way she'd gripped her keys like they were a lifeline.
The way she'd driven away without looking back.
I'd let her go once before. Convinced myself it was the right thing, the noble thing. That keeping her away from my world was the only way to protect her.
But what if I'd been wrong?
What if pulling away had hurt her more than the truth ever could have?
I set the glass down and pulled out my phone. Her number was long gone, deleted years ago. But her face was burned into my memory, and now that I knew she was here, in Ironstone, the walls I'd built to keep her out started to feel more like a prison.
I couldn't reach out. Couldn't complicate this assignment with personal entanglements.
But I also couldn't shake the image of her standing in that parking lot, anger and hurt written across every line of her body.
You don't get to do this. You don't get to play the concerned hero when you're the one who blocked me and dropped me four years ago.
She was right. I didn't get to swoop in and pretend I hadn't destroyed whatever we'd had.
But I'd done it anyway.
Because some instincts ran deeper than logic. Deeper than the training my family had beaten into me.
And watching Ivy walk away tonight had reminded me of something I'd tried hard to forget.
I'd fallen for her. Hard. Fast. Completely.
And maybe, just maybe, I'd never really stopped.
3
IBY
Ipulled into my parking space at my complex and killed the engine, but I couldn't bring myself to go inside yet. The encounter with Eric had left me rattled, my hands still trembling slightly on the steering wheel.
Why now? Why had he shown up tonight? Was this cosmic fate? The universe laughing at me? Karma?
"Fuck you, Eric," I muttered.
I grabbed my phone and scrolled to Elena's name, knowing being alone was not ideal right now.
Thankfully, she picked up on the second ring. "Hey, you. How'd the date go?"
