“Yes, I’m sure!” I said hotly.
“Oh, so you have evidence?” Sebastian countered. “Did you walk in on them?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Uh-huh. See, this is why I warned you that you needed a therapist and a self-reflective retreat, not a serious relationship. You’re still hurt, and I knew it was going to make you do something crazy like jump to conclusions.”
“But I’m sure she cheated!” I argued.
“I mean, how could she?” Mika said. “She spends all her time with you, me, or Imogen. She has a wedding every weekend, sometimes two if there’s a Sunday ceremony. She’s constantly Instagramming about planning these weddings or going to these weddings.”
“She did it in Miami,” I told them. “Her mother said she saw her with a Cuban millionaire.”
“Nope. I was with her all night.” Mika shook her head. “The only time we weren’t in the club was when we went out to get some air and look at the boats. You’re the one who left,” she reminded me.
“Fuck. I think I screwed up,” I swore, resting my head in my hands.
“Just go talk to her tomorrow,” Sebastian said, patting me on the back. “Ivy seems like a reasonable woman. I’m sure if you explained yourself and bought her a nice gift, she would overlook your bout of hysterics.”
“No, you don’t understand…” I said in a panic. “I have to stop this.” I fumbled my phone out of my pocket then cursed when I saw the message.
Carl Svensson:Ivy is out of the condo. We are clear to start demolition.
Greg Svensson:Fantastic. We’ll have a meeting on Monday to discuss the next steps of the development.
“Shit.”
“I doubt it’s completely dire. I just think you need to give her another chance and let her explain her side of things,” Sebastian said gently.
“Itisbad. I just got Ivy evicted from her condo.”
50
Ivy
“Ithink there’s been some mistake,” I said to the Svensson brother. If he hadn’t been trying to evict me from my condo, I would have said he was attractive. However, if I hadn’t been afraid of turning a bad situation worse, I would have slugged him in his smug mouth.
“Ms. Williams, you are behind on your mortgage payments,” he said in a bored tone. “The previous owner of the building and the units on the ground floor sold to us. We bought the unit across the hall from Mrs. Russo. Now we’re telling you to leave the unit that we currently own.”
“You can’t just evict someone with no notice,” I protested, forcing myself not to break down and cry in front of this asshole. “New York City has laws about removing people from their homes.”
“Yes, and the law is on our side. We can wait the six months that it will take to have our lawyers push this eviction through the system. At the end of it, you will be left with a terrible credit rating, still owe money on the mortgages, and be blacklisted from renting anything in the city of New York ever again.”
I sagged.
“Or,” Carl said, “you can leave now, we can forgive the money on the two mortgages you own, and we can have movers take you to wherever you want to go. Think of it as a fresh start.”
I swallowed, my lower lip trembling. “Please, I have nowhere else to go.”
But the Svensson brother was unmoved.
“Phone a friend, or I can instruct the movers to take you to a hotel.”
“I guess I…” I looked around. The tiny space had never been my dream condo, but it had been mine. But now it wasn’t.
“I guess I don’t really have much of a choice,” I said quietly, blinking back tears.
“Please sign these papers,” Carl said, opening his briefcase and handing me a set of tabbed pages.
