“So you admit it.”
“I admit I cared for a sick woman.”
“You were accused of stealing her jewelry.”
“I was accused by her nephew after he found out she had left money to her nurses.”
“Were you arrested?”
“No.”
“Because you vanished.”
“I was fired.”
“You changed your name.”
Ivy closed her eyes for one second.
Then opened them.
“I changed my name because my stepfather found me.”
The words came out before she could stop them.
Silence.
A different kind this time.
Vivienne’s smile flickered.
Ronan looked up.
Ivy hated the pity she expected to see.
But there was no pity.
Only focus.
“Explain,” he said.
She almost laughed. He loved that word.
But this time, she owed the explanation to herself.
“My mother married a man named Victor Valez when I was fifteen. He liked control. Money. Punishment.” She glanced at the marks on her shoulder and then looked away. “When my mother died, I took my brothers and left. He found us twice. Each time, I changed jobs, changed neighborhoods, changed names.”
Ronan’s hand tightened around the papers.
Vivienne rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please. A sad childhood story. How convenient.”
Ivy stepped toward her, ignoring the flash of pain in her shoulder.
“You had me followed.”
Vivienne lifted one perfect brow.
“I investigated staff. Smart women do.”
“You didn’t investigate me when I was hired. You did it after I saw you in the wine cellar with my stepfather.”
Ronan went very still.
Matteo’s head snapped up.
Vivienne’s face changed.
It was brief. Less than a second.
But Ronan saw it.
“What wine cellar?” he asked.
Vivienne recovered quickly.
“She is lying.”
Ivy looked at Ronan.
“Three weeks ago. The night of the mayor’s fundraiser. I went downstairs for extra champagne. She was there with Victor Valez. He was asking about delivery routes at the docks. She gave him an envelope.”
Senator Hale laughed softly.
“This is absurd.”
Ronan did not look at him.
“Matteo.”
“I’ll pull the cameras,” Matteo said.
Vivienne’s voice sharpened.
“You won’t find anything.”
That was the wrong thing to say.
Ronan turned slowly.
“Why not?”
Vivienne’s lips parted.
Matteo’s phone buzzed. He checked it, then looked at Ronan.
“The wine cellar cameras went down that night from 9:14 to 9:46.”
Ivy’s stomach sank.
Vivienne smiled again.
“There. No proof.”
“No,” Ronan said. “That is proof someone did not want proof.”
Senator Hale’s expression hardened.
“Careful.”
Ronan faced him fully.
“Did you just threaten me in my own house?”
“I am reminding you that accusations have consequences.”
“So does assault.”
Vivienne laughed.
“You think anyone will press charges? Against me? Over her?”
Ivy flinched before she could stop herself.
Ronan saw that too.
He stepped closer to Vivienne.
“I will.”
Vivienne blinked.
“You?”
“This is my home. My employee. My witnesses. My cameras.”
“Former employee,” Ivy said quietly.
Ronan glanced back at her.
“You are right.”
Then to Vivienne.
“My former employee.”
For reasons Ivy did not understand, the correction mattered.
Vivienne’s control cracked.
“You are humiliating me for a woman who scrubbed your floors.”
“No. You humiliated yourself by believing the floor made her lower than you.”
Lena’s tears started again.
Matteo murmured into his phone, sending orders Ivy could not hear.
Ronan gathered the papers from the folder and handed them to Matteo.
“Copy everything. Verify everything. Find Victor Valez.”
Ivy stepped forward.
“No.”
Ronan looked at her.
“If he is involved—”
“You do not understand. If he knows where I work, then he knows where my brothers are.”
Matteo’s expression shifted.
“How old?”
“Fourteen and sixteen.”
Ronan’s face darkened.
“Where are they?”
Ivy hesitated.
Trust was a luxury she could not afford.
Vivienne seized the pause.
“See? She lies even now.”
Ivy looked at the woman who had whipped her in front of two hundred people and felt something inside her finally burn hotter than fear.
“I lie to survive people like you.”
Vivienne’s nostrils flared.
Before anyone could move, she slapped Ivy across the face.
The sound cracked through the hallway.
Lena screamed.
Ronan caught Vivienne’s wrist so fast the senator shouted.
Vivienne gasped in pain.
Ronan did not twist. He did not strike. He simply held her still, and somehow that was worse.
“You are done touching her,” he said.
Vivienne tried to pull free.
“You’re hurting me.”
“No. I’m stopping you.”
Senator Hale stepped forward.
“Release my daughter.”
Ronan did.
Vivienne stumbled back into her father.
Ronan looked at Matteo.
“Escort Miss Hale and the senator out.”
Vivienne went pale.
“You cannot throw me out.”
“I already ended the engagement. Do not make me end your father’s career tonight too.”
Senator Hale smiled without warmth.
“You do not have that power.”
Ronan leaned in slightly.
“Ask your friends why they left so quickly.”
