Fraud

She rushes toward me, and I grab her arm and force her across the room to her dad.

Ivy trips over her own feet walking backwards, her bottom lip trembling when her father wraps an arm around her to hold her still.

I stare at her for a few silent seconds, inwardly promising her that I will find a way to fix this, but until then she needs to see through Fraud and remember Gabriel stares out at her.

My eyes lift to her dad. “You win.”

His expression doesn’t so much as twitch in response to tell me what he’s thinking.

I look at Ivy one last time before spi

“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.