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"Absolutely," she says it with conviction. "I asked him directly if he said, 'they' and not 'him'. I knew you'd want to know."
I feel a slight pull at my heart at her desperate attempt to get back in my good graces. I miss her so much but I can't tell her that. I can't trust her. I'm even wary to believe this. "Thanks, Liz." I feign a small smile. I know it took courage for her to agree to meet me.
"I don't want you to be hurt again, Ivy." A single tear leaves her eye before she scoops it up with her index finger. "What I did to you was horrible. What I did to our friendship."
"It's too hard to talk about." I feel my own tears coming on strongly. I take a deep breath holding them in. "I should get going. Thanks again for coming down here to see me."
"I'd do anything for you." She manages a small smile. "One other thing I wanted you to know."
I steady myself for what she's about to share. I hope it's something related to Jax. I can't shake the idea that he collaborated with someone else to manipulate me into selling my part of Mark's company.
"I told Mark I can't ever see him again." Her voice is steady and strong. "It's over forever."
I feel let down by her proclamation. I don't care what she does or doesn't do with Mark at this point. I just nod in silence as I rise from my chair and walk straight towards the door and out of her life for good.
***
"It's not as though I have anything of substance to report." I lazily kick the heel of my stiletto under Nathan's desk as I sit in the chair facing him. "Has there been any movement at all on the contract?"
"He doesn't want to give up Veray to you." The exasperation in his voice is evident. "I don't know why he's holding onto that so tightly. He bought into it less than a year ago and it's not pulling in a huge return for him at this point."
I shrug my shoulders. "Your guess is as good as mine as to why he won't let go of that."
"I do have a guess." He bows his head before he continues, "I think he's holding on to it because it's his last link to you. Well, you know, other than the sex."
I shudder at the mention of sex with Jax. "Actually, I ended that." I say it like I mean it but my body betrays the words. I've spent the last four days replaying each of my intimate encounters with Jax in my mind. I can't even imagine wanting anyone else.
"You ended it?" he sounds as puzzled as I feel inside about it.
"I went to see him as we discussed. You know to try and trick him into telling me something about what he might be hiding."
He nods. "Obviously it didn't go very well."
"It started off great but then I had an epiphany." I suck in my breath when I think about how Jax looked when I confronted him about being cheated on.
"An epiphany? What happened?"
"Mark cheated on me. It was devastating. It's why I ended things." I stop to gather my thoughts before continuing," I realized the other day that Jax was cheated on too."
"He told you that?" he presses for more information.
"He didn't have to. I saw it in his face. I could hear it in his words. He's scared of being cheated on again."
"Well, shit." Nathan exhales sharply. "That doesn't help at all."
"Sorry to disappoint, counselor," I tease as I rise from the chair. "Oh, wait, there was one other small thing but I don't think it's important."
"The devil's in the details, Marlow. What is it?" He laughs. "Everything matters when you're working on a deal this large."
"A mutual…"I pause when I realize that I can't refer to Liz as a friend. That's not who she is anymore. Can I say enemy? Or maybe betrayer? How about relationship wrecker?
"A mutual friend?" he offers.
"This woman who knows Jax's brother pret
ty well she told me that they had a discussion about him." I feel comfortable with that description of Liz.
"Ivy, don't leave me hanging here." He taps my fingers with his to bring my focus back to him. "What did this woman tell you?"
