It had been two days since I’d seen Ivy, and Winter was right, she looked ill. She sat in the armchair in the corner of the room with her legs curled up under her and her head resting on the arm of the chair. Lifting her head, she said, “What now, King? Another fucking interrogation? I’m surprised you didn’t send one of your men to do it.”
I dragged the other chair in the room to where she was and sat in front of her. Resting my elbows on my knees, I ran my eyes over her. Hyde hadn’t touched her, thank fuck. The only marks on her face were the bags under her eyes. Those damn eyes, though, roared with mistrust and anger. They threw out an accusation I found hard to stomach. It turned out that no matter how hard I tried to bury my fucking soul, it was still there. My fucking heart may have been frozen for years, but those eyes of Ivy’s caused it to thaw, and that made me feel even more out of control than I already did.
When cornered like this—when forced to confront myself in ways I didn’t want to—I drew upon the only response I’d ever known. I fought back with anger. When Ivy threw her hurt at me like this, I always threw mine back. And so it seemed, we never changed.
“Yes, another fucking interrogation. But only because I’m trying to keep you safe. Do you even fucking understand that?”
She sat up straight in the chair, her body rigid. “All I understand is that I came to you with information that was good and you’ve done nothing but thrown it in my face since I got here. And then you didn’t even have the decency to come in here yourself yesterday to ask me what you wanted to know. You sent one of your men to do it. I know there’s nothing between us now, King, but I honestly thought there was more than that. I thought I deserved better than that.”
Fuck.
She did deserve better than that.
I shoved my chair back and stood, pacing the room for a moment, trying desperately to get my thoughts in order, before coming back to her. I couldn’t fucking figure out what I was thinking, what I was feeling. It was like my mind had been reprogrammed in the years after she left and now it was misfiring, unsure how to register everything being thrown at it. The only thing I truly knew was that we had to get through this and then go our separate ways again. I could not allow myself back into her life or her into mine. But fuck, getting us to that point felt like the hardest fucking thing I’d had to do in a long time.
The best way I knew to deal with shit like this was to avoid it. So I ignored what she said and focused on what I needed. “It turns out Brant’s information was wrong.”
She stared at me for a long few beats before blinking and muttering, “You’re a fucking asshole. You can’t even be bothered to discuss what I just said to you. I’m glad you cheated on me because I was better off without you in my life.”
Her words sliced through me. Fuck knew how because I’d learnt a long time ago not to let people hurt me like that. But Ivy had always had a way of cutting deep.
“Tell me what you know about Brant,” I demanded in a low dark voice. I needed to get this information from her and then get the hell out of this room.
She uncurled herself from the chair and stood. Coming close—too fucking close—she snarled, “I told Hyde everything I know. I don’t know anything about Tony being raided, and I don’t know why Brant would turn on him.”
My breathing sped up as I fought all the emotions coursing through me. Fought feeling them. Needing to put space between us, I took a step back. “Tony wasn’t raided. Brant lied about that. What I want to know is why.”
The anger rolling off her burnt out a little, replaced by confusion. “I don’t know why he’d do that. That makes no se—” She stopped talking abruptly, and I zeroed in on that.
“It makes no sense to you?”
By the way her mouth fell open and her eyes widened a fraction, Ivy appeared bewildered by what I’d just told her. And that confused me.
When she didn’t respond, I pushed her. “What’s going on, Ivy? Why doesn’t this make any sense to you?”
She wrapped her arms around her body and looked at me with anger again. “Nothing makes sense! I don’t understand what’s going on. And I feel like I’m going to be sick, so can you please get me a bucket or something in case I vomit?”
Her face had turned white, and I recalled what Winter had told me earlier. Gripping hold of her arms, I directed her back to sit in the chair. “Wait there, I’ll get you something.”
She curled into a ball and closed her eyes as she rested her head on the arm of the chair again. As I exited the room, I heard her murmur, “Thank you.” It surprised the hell out of me and caused my guilt to rear its head. Although the only emotion that seemed to come from her was anger, I knew that was how Ivy coped with life. She’d used it when we were a couple, and it seemed she hadn’t changed. But her “thank you” reminded me that at the core of that anger was a vulnerable woman. I needed to remember that and make allowances. The only way we’d survive this would be for one of us to back down, and I knew that had to be me. I wasn’t sure I had it in me, but after everything I’d put Ivy through years ago, I had to fucking try.
21
King
* * *
“You think you could manage not to shoot him today?” Axe asked as we prepared to question Brant again.
I eyed Brant who sat at the table in the middle of the room looking nervously between Axe and me. “What? You don’t like a little blood in your interrogation room?”
“I’ve told you everything. I’m not sure why we’re doing this again,” Brant said, fear clinging to every word that fell out of his mouth.
Axe moved behind Brant and bent so he could talk into his ear. “That’s your first lie for the day, Brant. Don’t let there be another or else King’s gun will be the least of your worries.”
Brant’s eyes widened and he swallowed hard, but he took Axe’s advice and didn’t utter another word.
I took the seat opposite him. “You lied to us the other day, too. Your boss wasn’t raided by the cops.”