Page 69

“Let me, Phillip, I can already see the toll this conversation will take.” Remo took a long step forward, invading my personal space. But I didn't move.

I think he expected me to, that he wanted to draw some sort of reaction from me. But he wouldn't see what he wanted, I'm not a girl who responds to intimidation.

Tapping the tips of his fingers together, Remo stalked around me, looking me up and down. “I've been waiting for this day for some time now, Ivy, and I'm having a hard time believing it's even here.”

Scrunching my eyes, I watched him move and his eyes lick my body. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“You don't know?” Flicking his glare to my father, he whipped his head back in my direction. “Of course you don't, that wouldn't work at all.”

Cocking my head, I looked between the two men. “What the hell is going on? Dad, tell me what this is?”

“Hon—”

Slicing a hand in the air, Remo stopped my father from speaking. “Enough, Phillip, she's no longer yours to speak to.”

“What? What did you just say?” My jaw hit my chest, eyes trying to read the scene before me. “What the hell is he talking about, Dad?” Reaching for my father, I tried to walk to him.

I needed him, I needed him to hug me and tell me this was all a joke. That this guy was really just going to be our new farm hand or our new supplier.

My heart was racing, anxiety had crept up and began to steal the air around me. I could feel the tension in my chest as my ribs closed around my lungs and the world around me began to wash away.

The room turned upside down as I dropped to my knees and clawed at my throat. I needed to breathe, I needed to get the air in so I could understand what these men were talking about.

I heard the soothing sound of my father's voice as it whispered numbers into my ear. And the last words that I could remember hearing him say as everything went black was:

'I love you. I'm sorry, Ivy.”

Opening my eyes, I rubbed them vigorously, trying to force that forsaken dream from my head. I hated the memory of that moment the most. The need to find out answers had been torn away from me as a panic attack stormed in and stole my conscience mind.

I had been left with a set of last words that meant everything and nothing all at the same time.

If my father loved me, how could he do this?

What was he sorry for? For letting Remo take me or for what he did to land me there?

Those questions ran through my head every moment I was awake, and every night they played on repeat in my dreams.

“Morning.” Dante's voice smothered the quiet buzzing around me, forcing me to realize the nightmare was still going strong.

“Did you sleep there all night?” I asked, pointing with a weak and groggy finger at his seat.

“No.”

“So you slept somewhere else?”

“No. I didn't sleep at all. I wanted to make sure you didn't get any bright ideas during the night.”

Rolling my eyes, I flopped back down and covered my head with the pillow. Speaking from beneath my feathered buffer, I said, “You're pathetic.”

“No, I'm cautious. You're still the bartering tool, Ivy. I need you.” His tone was playful, eyes flickering with a spark. “Besides, watching you sleep, watching you toss and turn . . . It kinda makes me hot. You looked so vulnerable, I loved it.”

“What's wrong with you? Why can't you just do something good for once? Let me go, set me free. Do one thing in your life for someone else.”

“I did already.” Leaning over, he rested his arms on his thighs and thumbed his jaw. “I freed you from giving yourself to that prick, I saved you the trouble of having your first time be with some dirt bag who doesn't care for you at all. I kept my father from blowing your head off and spilling you onto that mattress. I did that for you. But that doesn't mean I can just send you on your way.” Leaning back in the chair, he tucked his hands under his arms. Watching him was hypnotic, he was a hard man to take your eyes off of.

His muscles perked up and flexed under his shirt. My stomach clenched with nerves, my pussy tightened and squeezed around nothing but the idea of him having been inside me.

“Why? What's the point of all that if you don't let me go?”