CHAPTER 9: The Serpent Returns
I backed away, ready to scream for security.
Then he dropped to his knees.
“Ivy, do you know why I never married Senna?”
“Because I never stopped loving you. I was waiting for you to come back.” Actual tears rolled down his face.
I laughed, harsh and cold. “That’s not what you said at the airport.”
“I was testing you! I wanted you to fight for us. To show you cared.”
“Baby, you know me. I need tenderness, not attitude. One soft word and I’d have taken you back instantly.”
He reached for me.
I stepped back. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
His face crumpled. “You’re still angry?”
Angry? I was disgusted.
“Get out.”
I headed inside.
He called after me: “I swear to God, Ivy, I love you! Today was just about teaching you not to be so stubborn!”
“Seeing you made my heart race! You have no idea how happy I was!”
“Psycho.”
Security materialized–Jett’s men, blocking Raven’s pursuit.
Around the corner, Jett waited, looking far too amused.
“Sneaking out to meet your ex while hubby sleeps?”
“I didn’t! I just needed air! He ambushed me!”
“Hmm. But it looked like a secret rendezvous to me.”
“Jett, please-”
“I might forgive you. If…”
“If what?”
“You’re never late for airport pickup again.”
I wanted to scream. The CEO of Steele Holdings was a master manipulator.
1/2
Next morning, I practically ran from the hospital.
Only to find Raven blocking our car with a banner: “IVY, LET ME WIN YOU BACK!” Jett looked at me in disbelief. “Your taste in men was seriously this bad?”
I covered my face. “Please just make him go away.”
Before security could move, someone else charged at Raven.
Senna. Looking like a deranged harpy, clawing at his face.
“You pathetic loser! The company’s dying and you’re here chasing your ex?” “She’s married to Jett Steele, you moron! You’re just humiliating yourself!” Raven stood there, taking it. Dead inside.
Maybe finding out he was nothing compared to Jett had finally broken his ego. Then Senna turned to our car.
She dropped to her knees in the street. In front of everyone.
“Ivy, please! Have mercy! We were blind at the airport!”
“I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry!”
She started bashing her head against the pavement. Crowds gathered, phones out, recording everything.
But she kept going, blood running down her face, desperate. I lowered my window.
Hope blazed in her eyes as she crawled toward the car.
