Page 20 of Recovering Ivy

“You worked for him, Ivy. Past tense. You no longer work for the dickweed.”

I was fast losing patience.

“Zane. I need that job. I can’t quit.”

“You need it so you can continue to gather information on Forester.” Shit, he kind of had me there. I needed the money, too, but mainly I still needed more information before I could nail him. “Right. So check this, babe, you are done playing Dick Tracy. I have the means and the resources you don’t have. You’ve been lucky, and he hasn’t caught you. Which is a damn miracle because you weren’t exactly stealthy. If he hadn’t been so wrapped up in pussy he would’ve clocked you in two-point-five seconds. That’s over for you. There is also the added benefit of you not breathing the same air as the scumbag.”

My head was close to exploding.

“Zane!”

“Why’d you say you can’t afford me?” he repeated.

Goddamn, he wasn’t going to drop it.

“Because I can’t. I assume by your office, your house, your car, and the suit you had on earlier you’re expensive.”

“Don’t bullshit me. I told you, you weren’t paying, and you had some fucked comeback about still not being able to afford me and how no man helps a woman for free. Someone fuck you over?”

Yes.

More than once.

“That’s none of your business.”

“That may be true, but I’m making it my business. Who fucked you over, Ivy?”

I clamped my mouth shut and crossed my arms over my chest.

“An ex-husband? A boyfriend?”

Who hadn’t fucked me over? Not that I had an ex-husband.

“Tell me about your sister.” He changed the subject.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re infuriating and incredibly nosey?”

He contemplated my question before he answered, “I’ve been accused of a lot of things, nosey has never been one.”

“Well, you are.”

“Your sister, Ivy?” he semi repeated.

“What about her? She’s dead. Forester conned her into believing he was going to give her a fairytale and instead he whored her out, made her run drugs, then killed her when he was ready for a new girl to take her place. Not much to tell.”

“You already told me that. Tell me about her.”

“Joey is my stepsister. She and her dad came to live with me and my mom when she was eight. I don’t know what happened to her before she came to live with us, but considering who her father was, I didn’t think any of it was good. She was hollow – even as a child. I tried to help her, but I was only sixteen and barely surviving myself.”

“Did he touch you?” Zane growled.

“Her dad? No. No one ever touched me like that.”

“Who’s her dad?”

“Lance Long. His friends, or buyers, whatever you want to call them, called him Double L. Stupid, right?”

“So Lance was a dealer?” Zane continued to ask questions.