Page 102 of Thorns of Malice

"But you are."

"No, I'm not," I claim.

"Yeah, you are, Ivy. You always have been. That's why everybody wanted you. Do you not understand that?"

I ponder her statement, still not understanding it. Everybody else around me seemed confident, unlike me.

"Okay, well, what are you going to do about Dax?"

"I don't know."

She cautiously asks, "Can I tell you something about him?"

"Sure."

She takes a deep breath and hesitates.

"What is it?" I push.

She bites her lip and then shrugs, declaring, "If you can't shake him out of your system, then I think maybe you should give him another chance."

I jerk my head backward. "Why would I do that?"

"He's not like the rest of them. Not anymore. And you two have something that nobody else has. It's clear, and it's always been clear," she voices.

I blurt out, "He used me. I was a pawn in his game and then he destroyed my life."

Lilly slowly nods. "Maybe so, but from where I'm standing, he's trying pretty hard to make up for it."

"How do you make up for that? He killed my father," I say.

Lilly's eyes widen. "How the hell did he kill your father?"

I open my mouth and then shut it. I take a deep breath, revealing, "My dad saw Dax and Avery on TV. When I walked in, he was having a heart attack, and they were on air. He died."

Lilly's expression falls. "I'm so sorry about your dad."

"Thanks."

"But why is that Avery and Dax's fault?"

"Let's just say Dax and Avery were throwing something in my father's face on TV that night."

Her eyes turn to slits. "Does this have something to do with Seducing Ivy?"

I can't help it. I admit, "Yeah, it does."

She stares out the window briefly and then turns back to me. "So your dad never had any heart issues, and he just dropped dead of a heart attack watching them?"

It sounds ridiculous coming from her. So I clarify. "No. He had heart issues for a long time."

"Soooo...he had previous issues?" she asks.

The conversation I had with Dax the other day fills my mind.

Maybe he's right.

No, he's not. He was trying to shift the blame off of himself.

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