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“Why did you do that?” I didn’t want to use scare tactics now. It was too soon.

“Because Ivy needs incentive to sell, and you want her house. I’m helping you.”

“I didn’t need your help.”

“It’s my job to protect you,” she said. “Isn’t it? I thought you liked when your employees took initiative.”

“To a certain degree.”

“I’ve never known you to have a soft spot for anyone. When you set your sights on this community, you said you would take no prisoners. You wouldn’t be satisfied unless you had all the property.”

“I’m almost there,” I reminded her.

“I’m trying to satisfy you.” She challenged me with an icy stare. “Let me.”

She wouldn’t even have this job if it wasn’t for her grandfather. She was morphing into an excellent attorney, thanks to me. If this deal involved someone other than Ivy, going to the tax office would have been the right move. But I wasn’t willing to use unnecessary measures to get what I wanted this time. It was up to me to decide how and when I finalized this deal.

“It’s your job to follow my lead and learn from me. Not to make observations about my personality.”

“I nudged Ivy in the right direction. Once she knows she’s on the city’s radar, she’ll have no choice but to take your offer.”

“I’m not so certain.”

Ivy didn’t have a business mind because she was emotionally connected to that house. I might have been more sympathetic to her feelings if she had the means to keep her property. But she didn’t. Taking my offer was a step in the right direction for her. If she didn’t accept my offer, she would lose her house and she would have nothing.

I needed to make her see that my way was a viable solution. The only solution.

“Why wouldn’t she take the offer?” Angelica leaned against the banner. “It’s a no-brainer.”

“She needs help understanding that. I want to give her time.”

“There’s that soft spot.”

“You don’t know as much about me as you think you do.” It bothered me that she was under the assumption that she thought she did. “I’ll handle Ivy.”

I didn’t have a soft spot for Ivy. I had an obsession and I needed to indulge my craving so I could move forward with business. Spending a few nights with her would help satisfy these primal urges I had developed in such a short time. Why wasn’t last night enough?

“You’re right,” she said. “I don’t know you that well. We’ve been working together for over a year, and I don’t really know who you are other than you’re a formidable attorney and a successful businessman.”

“Maybe that’s all you’re supposed to know.” I smirked as I ran my hand along my beard. “Keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll teach you how to be a successful attorney. That’s why your grandfather sent you to me.”

“We should go to dinner,” she said.

Why are you being bolder than usual?

“I did come all this way to bring you those plans.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “The least you can do is take me to dinner.”

“Actually, there is business we can discuss over dinner.” I had plans too. “There’s a diner about a mile from here.”

“You don’t strike me as a man who eats at a diner.” Her smile faltered, turning into a slight frown, “But if that’s where you want to have dinner, I guess I could find something on the menu.”

“I don’t want to eat there,” I said. “I want to research it. Actually, you’re going to do that for me.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I need the owner’s name, the paper trail of ownership, and the profit margins. Anything you can scrape up, I want.”

If Ivy’s excuse for dodging me on Wednesday night was work, I was about to eliminate that obstacle.