Fraud

“Yeah, but we never mentioned Jerry.”

Ivy clears her throat, her blue eyes lifting to Ta

“It sounds like they made a lucky guess.“

Ta

He’s fucking with her on purpose, I realize. Intentionally poking her with the hope she’ll snap back.

Oddly, I’m hoping for the same thing.

Ivy sighs. “Fine.”

Luca’s lips thin, her eyes dancing between Ivy and Ta

“Nothing. It’s fine. What would I know?” She shakes her head and smiles weakly with the answer before going back to staring out the window.

Pain shoots down my jaw from how hard my teeth clench. Speaking around them, I fight to stay focused on the conversation instead of her.

“Ivy has already agreed to talk to her dad and give me access to his records. So her father is handled, but what are we doing about the other threads?”

Ta

When I glance at Taylor, I see that he’s eyeing Ivy as well, his brows tugged together before he shakes off whatever he’s thinking and answers, “Jerry is still covering his tracks, but I’ve been checking in on his daughter, Brinley. She’s a bookworm like Luca, but more social. I have some of the names of her friends.”

Ivy turns to glance at Taylor at the mention of Jerry’s daughter. An odd expression flits across her face, but then she glances at me, scowls, and turns back to stare out the window again.

Interrupting what Taylor is saying, I take a sip of my drink. “Something catch your attention, Ivy?”

Her eyes slide back to me. “Nope. I know nothing. Just sitting here looking pretty.”

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Sawyer asks, smoke rolling over his lips. “Who murdered the real Ivy and replaced her with a changeling?”

“Sawyer,” I warn.

“What?” He snuffs out his joint in an ashtray and laughs. “I feel like I’m watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers or some shit. This is pathetic and a little creepy.”

It’s maddening actually.

Depressing.

My stomach twists more, but I fight doing anything about it because she’s doing exactly what I asked of her.

So why the hell is it bothering me so much?

“Give that information to Shane,” Ta

Shane’s eyes shoot to Ta

“Because the twins are busy with Emily,” I answer, my stare locked on Ivy, waiting for her to react.

I don’t know why I’m poking at her now, but when she doesn’t so much as twitch at the mention of the problem between the twins and her best friend - a situation I know for a fact bugs the shit out of her - my gut twists more, and my shoulders tense.

Shane begins questioning Ta

It’s like she’s not even there. Physically, yes, she’s sitting primly in her seat and not causing problems, but mentally, she’s somewhere else.

I want to know where she is.

Know what she’s thinking.

But now that she’s muted like I demanded, Sawyer isn’t wrong to say she’s someone else entirely.

Forcing myself to let it go again, I turn back to the conversation as Shane agrees to see how close he can get to Brinley, and Ta

“Start checking into Everly again-“

“We’ve already tried that,” Taylor argues.

“I know, but come at it from another angle. She’s co

Ivy opens her mouth as if to say something, but then shakes her head and refuses. I’m not sure anybody else noticed, but I did. And only because I can’t keep my eyes off her.

“What were you going to say, Ivy?”

She shoots me a glance that lasts less than a second. “Nothing.”

“That’s bullshit. You’re thinking something, and I want to know what it is.”

“It’s nothing,” she mumbles. “I have nothing to add.”

Sawyer speaks up again. “Can somebody please bring the real Ivy back? This chick is freaking me out.”

Me too, and his outburst is the only trigger I need to storm in her direction, grab her arm to pull her up from the couch and drag her back in the direction of the den.

“What are you doing?” she hisses at the same time Ta

“Give me a minute,” I bark at him before shoving Ivy into the den and shutting the door behind me.

She crosses her arms over her chest and refuses to look at me, which only bothers me more.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Behaving,” she answers without any inflection in her voice. It’s like talking to a drugged out mental patient.

I take a few steps in her direction and grit my teeth when she moves away. My fingers curl into my palms, but I stand in place staring at her.

“This isn’t behaving. You’re acting like a hollow shell.”

Her shoulders shake with a bark of laughter, her blue eyes turning to lock with mine.

“Isn’t this what you wanted? You don’t want me to be me. You want me to obey. So this is me without my colors. If I can’t be myself, then this is what you get. I don’t understand the problem.”

I take another step toward her but stop myself.

“I wanted you to stop pulling your usual shit, not sit there with the boring personality of a deflating blowup doll.”

Her head snaps my direction, fire once again behind her eyes that I realize I prefer seeing. Just as quickly as it’s there, she blinks it away and retreats back to being a woman I don’t know.

“I’ll give you what you want, Gabriel, so you don’t leak the tape. Tomorrow, I’ll go talk to my dad. I’ll find a way for you to access his office. And when you’re done doing that, my price will be paid and then I’ll be sure to never see you again. We’ll be done. Which is exactly what you want, so what is your problem?”

That it’s not what I want.

That I can’t stand the sight of her acting this way.

That I’m pissed off at myself for threatening her with something I have no intention of doing in order to turn her into this pathetic facsimile version of herself.

That’s the fucking problem.

So why can’t I just come out and say it?

Ivy uncrosses her arms and moves to step around me to leave the room.

Pausing, she doesn’t bother looking my direction when she says, “You wanted this. I’m giving it to you. You win. And when my price is paid, I’ll be gone.”

When she takes another step, I wrap my hand around her bicep without thinking, her eyes sliding to meet mine.

We stare at each other for several tense seconds, my mind racing with a million thoughts I can’t make sense of while she flicks a glance to my hand and back up.

“Do you mind? I’d like to go back out there and do as I’m told.”

My jaw tics, frustration eating at me because I don’t fucking want that.

Rather than saying anything, I release her arm and watch her walk to the door.

She looks at me from over her shoulder. “I don’t know why you dragged me back here, Gabe. I’m behaving just like you asked. You should be smiling because I’m giving you everything you want.”