AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ivy, I need to talk to you,” he insists.
“No.” I clear my throat as I stare at the house I grew up in. Where I spent nineteen years being timid and afraid. I won’t do that anymore. I can’t. I straighten in my seat. Push my intentions into every word. “Leave me alone.”
“Ivy, please—”
I hang up on him. There’s only one person I want to speak to this morning. That’s Nicole. She’s going to listen to what I have to say for a change. I press the button on the intercom.
“What are you doing here, little sister?” Alec’s voice immediately comes from the speaker, making me jump.
How long has he been watching me make up my mind to press that button?
“I need to see Nicole.” My voice trembles, and I hate it. I don’t want him to know how much he scares me, but he’s always been able to see through me.
“She’s not here,” he says.
“Oh.” Disappointment is tempered by relief. Eventually I’ll have to talk to her face to face, but not today. “Okay. Where is she?”
“Can’t say I have a clue,” he says.
“I’ll… call her.”
“You should come in,” he says, like we’re the kind of brother and sister who have brunch every Sunday. “I only stopped by to catch up, but since Nicole isn’t here, you and I should hang out.”
I wince. The last thing I want is to be alone with Alec in that house. He might have saved my life, but he tortured me for years first. “I can’t. I have things to do.”
“Gotta spend time with that boyfriend of yours,” he says, the intention like sandpaper in my ears. Find out when that article is coming out and what it says. Bring him anything he can use against the Maddox brothers. Or he’ll ruin Adira.
It makes me sick to my stomach to give him anything. “They’re talking to Marty Kendall today. She had more questions. That’s all I know.”
“You’re not doing enough,” he says simply. “And if you’re trying to fuck me over like you did the other night, think again.”
“You knew?” My voice is tiny.
“That you’d pull another stunt and try to record me? I was prepared,” he says. “Now, I know.”
He did something to keep me from being able to record him. I’d already figured as much when all I got when I played it back was static.
“You need to make sure you know where your loyalty lies,” he snaps.
“I do.” If only he had a clue what inspires loyalty in people. He’ll never win against Rogue and his brothers because they know how to treat the people that matter.
And so does Adira. Whatever happened between him and Christian Dakota has an explanation. I’m sure of it. But asking my bestie about it might be opening up old wounds. I haven’t yet found the right moment to talk to him. Or worked out how to keep him from confronting Alec the moment I do and blowing any chance I have of getting Alec to confess to hurting Rochelle Kitt.
“Bring me something I can use next time,” he orders.
“Why are you doing this?” I can barely get the words out, but I need to find out. I asked before and all he said was Rebel started it. It’s not enough.
“I told you,” he says. “They have to pay.”
“Why do they have to pay, Alec?” I’m trembling all over. Bile fills my throat. There’s nothing on this planet that can excuse my brother’s behavior, yet I ask like I’m sympathetic. “What did they do to you?”
“What didn’t they do?” He scoffs. “They’re liars. They’re thieves. You’ll work it out for yourself soon enough.”
“I think you’re wrong.”
Silence thunders in the moment before his steely voice fills my ears again. “You don’t need to think, Ivy. It’s not your strong suit. You’ve always been much better at following direction. Stick with what you’re good at.”
I sit there blinking like he reached through the intercom and physically hit me. That used to be me. Too scared to think for myself. Too shy to talk to anyone, even people with good intentions. Unable to stand up for myself.
