by Lily White
“Gabriel! Damn it! I’m not staying here. Gabriel, stop!”
Shoulders tense, I leave the room and march through the foyer, their butler opening the door for me as soon as I approach.
His voice is a whisper of sound as I step past him.
“Please drive carefully on your way out, Mr. Dane. And if you want what’s best for Miss Callahan, I suggest you forget that you know her.”
Turning to lock him in my stare, I watch as he slams the door in my face, the muscle in my jaw jumping once before I walk across the porch and down the stairs.
Maybe I’m not the biggest fraud in this state. Ivy’s father just proved himself to be worse than me.
Ivy
My father releases me as soon as the front door slams and Harrison appears at the entryway into the sitting room.
“Shall I prepare her room, sir?”
“My room?” I spin to face my dad. “Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not staying here. I’m a grown woman. You can’t-“
Dad’s lips pull into a smirk, his dark eyes stabbing mine. “You’ll do whatever the hell I tell you to do. And I just showed you why. I’m not playing around with this, Ivy.”
He glances above my head at Harrison. “Prepare the room, and then let Mrs. Callahan know I’m ready to go.”
Harrison nods his head and steps away, my jaw slamming shut so hard pain rattles down my jaw.
“You would never leak that tape. How do you even have it? And why am I just now finding out about it?”
Voice a boom of sound that bounces off the walls, my father yells, “I’ve had it since the night after you torched my pavilion. It was just another one of the messes I had to clean up for you, and it’s the primary reason you were shipped off to an all-women’s college. You’re too stupid for your own good. Even now, you keep making decisions that can ruin this family, and I’m not standing for it anymore. Do you have any idea what I had to do to bury that tape?”
“That was ten years ago,” I argue, tears leaking from my eyes that are real this time.
“I’m well aware of when you decided to try and sink my career,” he shouts, spittle flying out of his mouth, his brows tugged together so tight that his face is a mask of anger.
“The only thing I don’t know is why you did it. Although I don’t think I need to ask. Everything you did back then had something to do with Gabriel Dane. I felt it safe to assume that stunt was just like all the others. Getting you away from him was the best thing I did as your father. And now you think you can waltz in my house and announce you’re marrying him? Think again, Ivy. He’s using you to get to me. He all but proved it by walking away just now.”
“He walked away to protect me,” I scream in return, because that’s the one thing I inherited from my father. His hair trigger. A temper that, when tripped, can terrify a normal person.
“You gave him no choice by threatening me. If anybody is using me right now, it’s you. How can you not see that?”
I hate that the tears leaking down my cheeks are real. Both anger at my father and fear that what Gabriel said to me was truth and not just another one of his lies.
On the drive over, the words he used broke me down and rebuilt me all over again. They were as unexpected as they were sincere. There is no way in hell Gabriel is using me, and for my father to claim that is a knife in my gut.
Yes, the engagement is fake, but for some fucking reason it feels real. And I refuse to let my father stand here and tell me I’m being used.
“I’m leaving-“
He snakes his hand out to grab my face, his fingertips digging into my cheeks so hard, I know they’ll bruise. Lowering his face to mine, my father sneers.
“You’ll do as you’re told if you know what’s good for you. I won’t tell you why because it’s none of your fucking business. But what you should know is I’m cleaning up another one of your disasters before you have the chance to ruin everybody’s life because of it. I tried a different approach with you by taking everything away. I gave you the chance to fix this and realize just how awful that boy is. But what did you do? Ran straight to him. Your entire life, Ivy. That’s how long you’ve chased after Gabriel, and if you think nobody knows that, you’re delusional. He’s never been good for you. And the sad fact that you apparently will never see is that you’re nothing but an amusement to him. Something to be tossed aside when he’s done playing his games. I don’t know for sure what he’s after now, but if it’s what I suspect, then you need to stay the fuck out of it.”
When he releases me, I have to step back a few times to keep from falling over. Dad’s eyes glare down at me, disgust rolling behind them for the tears sliding down my cheeks.
Straightening his jacket, my father tugs his cuffs into place and pins me with his dark stare. “Leaking that tape isn’t the worst I can do to you. And it’s definitely not the worst I can do to Gabriel. Don’t fucking try me, Ivy. This is my last warning. If you disobey me again, there will be repercussions.”
Our eyes lock, mine in refusal to do as I’m told and his in promise of destroying everybody who challenges him. It only cements the idea in my head that my father’s hands are buried in something awful, that he’s involved in something so goddamned wrong that he’s willing to destroy his own child to keep it secret.
My father, the man who has always been my hero, is as dirty as the rest of them. Except he hides behind the feigned smile of a politician, his secrets buried beneath shady side dealings and eloquent lies.
The loyalty I once had for him is gone. Burned up. Fucking shredded because I realize I’m just another pawn. A damn trinket he uses to pretend to be a good man.
Behind me, my mother’s soft voice floats into the room.
“Honey, Harrison tells me you’re ready. Oh! Ivy, sweetheart, I didn’t know you’re here.”
I spin around to lock eyes with Mom. She looks beautiful in a pastel blue dress, her blond hair swept up in an elegant twist, diamonds sparkling in her ears and around her neck.
Another trinket, I realize. One that’s perfectly happy to play the part.
“Is everything okay?”
She steps toward me, but my father shoves me aside to meet her before she can reach me.
“We’re late, Allison. We should go.”
“What’s going on?” she asks, her blue eyes darting to me again.
“We’ll discuss it in the car.” Dad drags mom off before I can answer.
Glancing at me from over her shoulder as they leave the room, mom drops the subject, but then she’s always been a social butterfly happy to do as she’s told.
It’s exactly what my father wants me to become.
Fuck that.
And fuck him.
This girl behaves for no one.
I’m wiping the tears from my face when Harrison appears in the doorway again, his expression stoic as ever. Although, this is nothing new. My father and I have fought more times than I can count. Harrison has had plenty of practice controlling his reactions.
Dad was right about one thing, though. Every time we’ve fought, it had something to do with Gabriel. Some aspect of our war that went too far and my father had to clean up.
Only this time, Gabriel is on my side just as much as I’m on his. I refuse to believe he’s given up.
“It’ll be nice having you home for a while, Miss Callahan. You’ve been missed. Is there anything you need before I show you to your room?”
He means my old bedroom. The one with the convenient lock on the outside. My father had that installed when I was in high school. It was just another one of his attempts to control me.
Knowing better than to argue, I force myself to smile sweetly. “Not at all. I guess I should run on upstairs and get ready for bed.”
His lips curl at the corners. “I think that’s wise. Your father insisted you stay put until he gets home from his benefit dinner.”
Stalking past him, my heels click over the marble floors. “I can’t believe you’re o
n his side, Harrison. Even you know this is wrong.”
He’s a silent presence at my back as we head up the stairs, his voice finally breaking into my thoughts when we reach my door.
“If it keeps you safe, Miss Callahan.”
Stepping around me to open the door, his brown eyes meet mine. “We both know your father only has your best interests at heart.”
Best interests, my ass.
I step into the room and hear the door quietly close at my back, the lock clicking into place a second later. With a roll of my eyes, I let out a sigh and move across the room to sit on the bed.
It’s too bad for Harrison and my dad that I figured out how to escape this room a long time ago, so rather than pitching a fit, I pull my phone from my purse and dial my lifelong accomplice.
Emily picks up after the first ring.
“How’s life being the future Mrs. Gabriel Dane?” she teases, obviously aware of everything that’s going on because she’s still talking to the twins.
“Not so great. I need to be rescued.”
She laughs. “From Gabe’s house or Tanner’s?”
On her end of the line, I hear a deep voice and realize I’ve interrupted something. “Shit. Is that Ezra?”
A deep sigh blows against the phone. “Yeah, but he can be the muscle if you need it. It’s not like he hasn’t helped out before.”
Laughter bubbles over my lips, and I lie back on the bed, my eyes staring up at the ceiling. “I need a rescue from my dad’s house.”
“What?”
Her voice explodes over the line, and I have to pull the phone from my ear to keep from going deaf.
“What the hell happened?”
“Long story. Can you be at our normal spot in an hour?”
“See you then.”
After hanging up, I drop the phone to the bed and fight the panic attack sneaking up on me. It lingers like a damn stalker, just out of reach as my pulse picks up speed and my throat closes.
All I can see every time I blink my eyes is Gabriel walking away. Like I didn’t matter. Like I gave the first fuck what my father would do.
My tears weren’t for what my father was doing to me, they were for a man who only an hour ago told me he was on my side. I don’t think he knew how much those words meant to me.
He has no idea how long I’ve waited to hear them.
But then at the first hint of trouble, off he runs like he couldn’t escape fast enough.
He couldn’t have been serious about never contacting him again. Not now. Not after what we’ve been through in the past month. I know that. But there’s still the lingering doubt that he was serious. That my dad was right to say I’m being used.
It’s hard not to remember that the only reason I’m sitting here now is the price Tanner first demanded of me. Is it possible this is all just a part of an elaborate scheme to get what they want?
I have to take a breath and calm down to remember who I’m dealing with.
Gabriel.
The liar.
Fraud.
He promised me he wouldn’t wear that mask anymore. But only for me. When it comes to everyone else, Gabriel hasn’t changed.
Knowing that is what keeps me from losing my mind at the moment, the small voice in my head that whispers he had to be lying.
He’d retreated too fast.
And it’s nothing like the boy I’ve known who never walks away from a fight.
Gabriel never retreats.
He only regroups and tries again.
That thought is what pushes me up from the bed and sets me on my feet. It’s what shoves me toward my old closet to change out of my dress and heels.
Thankfully, I still fit into all the old clothes I didn’t take with me when I got back from college and moved into my other house.
Once in the appropriate attire for sneaking around, I take a deep breath and promise myself that Gabriel Dane hadn’t just let my father win.
He’d only bought us more time to figure this out. Which means I need to do something that I’d promised myself I wouldn’t do.
Decision made, I open the window and crawl out. But rather than taking the usual route that leads me down the side of the house and away from the mansion, I carefully navigate my way to the back of the house and find a path to climb down.
Silently thanking my mom for all the handy trellises that climb the sides, I use a service door to sneak back into the house.
My father started a war he won’t win when he threatened my life. And it sucks for him that he doesn’t realize dark clouds rolled in when he wasn’t expecting them, a storm sitting just on the horizon full of rolling thunder and the deadly threat of lightning.
My father is accustomed to the trouble I can cause when I’m on my own, but he has no clue what he’s dealing with now that I’ve joined forces with my lifelong opponent.
Gabriel
Tanner’s gaze shoots past me when he finally answers his damn door, suspicion rolling as he glances up, down, left and then right. I don’t know what the fuck he’s looking for, but it only pisses me off.
I’ve been standing here for ten minutes already banging on the wood, demanding he stop whatever he was doing to let me in.
Too angry to deal with his bullshit at the moment, I slam my palm against his chest and shove him inside.
“What the hell, Gabe? What’s your problem?”
Sliding past him, I head straight to the bar. A drink is probably the last thing I need right now, but it’s also the only thing that might calm me down.
Tanner follows at my heels, his expression tight with confusion. He waves a hand at Luca when she stands up from the couch to talk to me, silently telling her to let me work this out with a few shots of whiskey before we start this conversation.
Three slammed drinks later and I turn to find both of them staring at me quietly.
“Call the guys,” I say, my voice careful despite the rage simmering in my veins. “Family fucking meeting right the fuck now.”
Thankfully, Tanner doesn’t ask questions. He pulls his phone from his pocket and shoots off a text. Finishing that, he tosses the phone on the coffee table beside him and meets my stare.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on before finishing off that bottle?”
I glance at the bottle and back to him. But rather than tipping it to my mouth, I pour another drink and set both the bottle and the glass down.
“Governor Callahan has a recording of Ivy torching the pavilion.”
“The fuck?” Tanner’s eyes widen, his shoulders pulling taut. “For how long, and how did he get it?”
Slowly spinning the drink I still haven’t touched over the counter of his wet bar, I shake my head.
“No clue. Unfortunately when I pulled out my guitar to sing Kumbaya with the guy and tell each other all our secrets, he wasn’t into it. Do you really fucking thing he told me all of that?”
Tanner shakes his head and stands up from the couch. Pacing my direction, he stabs a hand through his hair. “So what the hell did he tell you?”
“That if I didn’t walk the fuck away and leave Ivy there, he would leak the tape and then arrest his own daughter to protect his interests.”
His pacing stops, his eyes locking to mine. “You’re joking.”
“Yeah, it’s my new stand-up routine. I’m sick of making millions as an attorney and have decided to hit the road for a world tour.”
Ignoring my bullshit, Tanner resumes pacing as Luca’s voice fills the space.
“Why did Ivy burn down a pavilion?”
“Because Gabriel set her up to do it in high school in order to trick her into asking me for a favor. I called in the price at the engagement party.”
Luca’s eyes snap to me. “Seriously? Again, I would expect that of Tanner because he’s already proven he’ll stoop that low, but you?”
Poor thing. I love Luca. She’s beautiful inside and out, but she’s deluding herself to think I’m part of this group
in name only.
“They don’t call me Fraud for nothing, love. I led you to believe I’m not like them, just like I lead everybody to believe I’m someone I’m not. It’s not my fault you believed it.”
Her jaw drops and I smile. “You were always so cute, though, for trusting me.”
When I wink, her cheeks flash red, the reaction somehow shoving me away from a violent edge so that I can think more clearly.
“Okay, what is the statute of limitations on arson? Five years?”
Tanner’s already jumping on this, his legal knowledge and cunning mind racing to find answers as I grab my drink and swallow a third of it down.
“Five years, maybe,” I answer. “Plus, she was technically a minor when the incident happened.”
Tanner stops. “So he has nothing.”
“Except for the ability to ruin her reputation,” I remind him. “Who the hell is going to hire the woman who burned her father’s pavilion? Or for that matter accept her into our circles?”
“Our criminal circles?” he asks, his brow arching.
“You know what I mean, Tanner. This can’t get out, and if it does, I’m responsible.”
And that’s the part that pisses me off the most. Yes, I’d originally done it with the intent to destroy her, but that was back when I didn’t understand how I felt about Ivy. If this destroys her now, it’s still by my hand, regardless of whether I want it or not.
I swallow the rest of my drink and slam the glass down on the counter. “We have to find a way to fix this. I did this to her. And after we’re done fixing this, I have to-“
Fuck...
What else is there to do than walk away from her? No matter what I try to do when it comes to Ivy, I end up hurting her.
“I need to stay the fuck away from her, so I don’t end up destroying her in some other way.”
Pouring another drink, my jaw tics because walking away is the last thing I want.
“Does she know you did this to her?” Luca asks, her voice soft.
Shrugging, I explain, “I admitted it to her the other day.”
“And she didn’t claw out your eyes?”
“Not while I was pissing her off about something else at the same time. Why?”