Page 130 of The Devil of Downtown

His glare snaps to mine, cold and final. “Don’t.”

But the words keep spilling, helpless and shaking.

“It’s the truth, isn’t it? I’m here trying to explain myself, and all you can see is the shadow of someone else.”

He breathes out once, slow, exhausted, utterly done.

“Ivy. Just leave.”

I nod, though the world feels distant and weightless. My feet don’t want to move; my lungs choke like they’ve forgotten how to work.

But I force my feet to move.

At the doorway, the last piece of me breaks.

And in the smallest, most fragile voice I’ve ever used, I ask, “Why did you let me fall in love with you if we meant nothing?”

All I get is more silence.

When he finally speaks, it’s quiet and merciless.

“Are we done here? I’m busy.”

I don’t remember opening the door.

I hardly register Sloane rising from her desk the second she sees my face.

“Oh, Ivy—”

I shake my head, pushing past her before the tears spill, but she follows, slipping into the elevator with me just as the doors close. The moment they do, everything inside me buckles.

Sloane catches my elbow, steadying me.

“You can’t keep wiping up Brody’s messes,” she says softly but firmly. “Or paying the price for what he did. You need to go to the police. You need to protect yourself.”

“I messed everything up,” I whisper. “I thought I was doing the right thing, and I just... I ruined everything.”

“No, you didn’t,” she says, voice gentle. “You did your best. You’re just trapped between a man who hurt you and a man who’s hurting too much to see straight. None of that is your fault.”

The elevator dings, and the doors open onto the marble lobby.

I step out, tears burning hot on my cheeks, the world blurring as I walk.

“Ivy,” Sloane murmurs, walking beside me, “it’s going to be okay.”

But I don’t believe her, not when every step feels like leaving pieces of myself behind.

Funny how things come full circle.

I walked into his office months ago wearing a mask.

I’m walking out now with him convinced I never took it off.

Chapter twenty-nine

Ivy

All I want to do is crawl under my duvet and disappear for a week.