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I turn around to find Jackson and Adira in a silent glare-off. No doubt the bodyguard is furious with Ivy’s bestie for helping her evade him.
I’m furious at him too. “What were you thinking, helping her?”
“She was worried about you,” Adira starts from where he’s pouting on my couch.
I put a hand up to stop him. I know I asked, but I don’t want to hear it. “You of all people should have been as eager to protect her as I am. Not thwarting the man I hired to do that job. Especially when you had to have some notion that her plan wouldn’t end with giving Jackson the slip. You gave her your damn car keys.”
“I should have realized what they were up to,” Jackson says.
“This is the second time today that you’ve failed me.” I turn on him. I hired him because he was supposed to be better than good at this job. His references were stellar. “Alec Hawthorne is still out there, walking around like he owns the whole damn world. If he hurts her—”
“I’ll find her,” he says.
“You’re fired,” I snap as I pull out my phone. “I’ll find her myself.”
Adira gasps. “You promised—”
“You lost her,” I shout. That shuts him up. “You are the reason why we’re in this situation.”
I’d agreed not to use the tracking app on Ivy’s phone because she would see it as a violation of her privacy if I kept tabs on her that way. And with Jackson to keep her safe I didn’t see any need to do that. But this is different. I feel like I’m having a panic attack with not knowing where she is.
"Rogue, she’ll be okay.” Adira uncrosses and crosses his legs then clasps his knee with both hands. “Nicole won’t hurt her. At least… not physically.”
“You can’t be certain of that,” I say as I open the app. “Or that she’s even with Nicole. I’m not willing to leave her safety to chance.”
“You’re right,” he says as the icon that shows the location of Ivy’s phone appears on the map on my screen.
I black out my device and put it away as the front door to the penthouse is opened and shut. A second later Ivy appears in my view. She’s drenched from the rain. The blue strands of her wig cling to her cheeks. The hem of her dress drips water onto the floor.
“Oh, Love.” Adira rushes over and hugs her. He uses his thumbs to wipe away some of the mascara that has smudged under her eyes. “I was so worried about you. Tell me you told the evil hag to go to hell.”
“I need a minute.” Her gaze locked with mine, Ivy frees herself from his embrace. “With my husband.”
My heart beats outside of my chest and I stop short of reaching her. The way she looks at me… it’s not like she looked at me earlier tonight when she accidentally told me she loved me. It’s the way she looked at me the first night she was home. Like she doesn’t want me to touch her. Like she doesn’t know me.
“I’m going to go,” Adira says. “I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Okay,” Ivy’s voice is barely audible, but her unwavering gaze speaks volumes. It says I could as easily be her enemy as I could be her lover. It’s full of pain and uncertainty.
It feels like loss. And I can’t quite breathe as easily as I should be able to now that she’s home.
“I’ll walk you out,” Jackson tells Adira.
Ivy puts her hand on his arm to stop him when he walks past her. “I’m sorry about earlier. Did he fire you?”
“He did.”
“He shouldn’t have,” she tells him but the words are equally for me. “I’m sorry for that too.”
“It’s okay, Miss Love,” he says.
She dips her chin and raises it again. Takes a key ring out of her clutch and hands it to him. “Adira’s car is in the parking garage.”
“I’m glad you’re home.” I reach out to touch her, but she sidesteps me so I let my arm fall uselessly to my side. “You had me worried sick.”
Standing in front of the sofa, she props a heeled foot on the cushion and pulls down the zipper on her boot. She takes out a piece of paper and waves it at me. “According to this we applied for our marriage license the day I was released into your care.”
“I wanted to tell you.” Why didn’t I? What was I thinking? That she wouldn’t work it out? Wouldn’t find out?
