Page 96 of Thorns of Malice

"Bobby? I don't care about Bobby. I haven't in a long time. We haven't been friends since before you left. And I didn't know what he did to you until after that night, but I told you I would make him pay. This is part of me making him pay."

"I'm not talking about Bobby," she cries out.

I freeze. My gut churns and my mouth goes dry. I choke out, "Dyer? You actually care about him?"

"No, I don't care about Dyer!" she shrieks.

Relief fills me, but I'm still confused.

She glares at me. "Why can't you stop hurting people?"

"Ivy, I don't understand why you're upset."

She huffs. "You wouldn't, would you, Dax?"

"Why don't you fill me in, then? But I swear I did it for you."

She sarcastically laughs. "For me? How is that video for me?"

"Have you seen it? It's all the things Bobby, Avery, and Dyer have done to people. It's a lot of illegal stuff. I did it to hurt them because they hurt you."

"And you hurt other innocent people in the process," she states.

"Who? Everyone's faces are covered up. I made sure that people's identities were protected," I claim.

"But they aren't? Are they? What they did to Matt was horrible, and you just made him relive it," she accuses.

I gape at her and then recover. My chest tightens with jealousy, and I confess, "I didn't know you were still in contact with Matt or that you were ever good friends."

"I wouldn't say we're friends. I ran into him by sheer coincidence back in Georgia."

An unsettling feeling fills me. "Okay, and what did you and Matt discuss?"

"That's not your business," she snips.

I stare at her, feeling once again like a rug is being pulled out from underneath me. "Ivy?—"

"Go away, Dax. I just want you to go away."

"I didn't mean to hurt anybody but Avery, Bobby, and Dyer. I thought because people's faces were covered?—"

"You thought you'd share people's nightmares with the world? How do you think he feels watching that and reliving those moments?"

It's something I never considered. My pulse skyrockets, and I reach for the doorjamb to steady myself. "I didn't mean?—"

"Go away, Dax. You're toxic, and you're never going to be anything but toxic."

"I'm not the same person," I claim, but it sounds weak.

Maybe I still am?

"This video isn't the same person you were?" she shouts, shaking her phone in my face.

"Ivy, please. I didn't mean to hurt Matt. I'll apologize if you want me to. I made sure that no one would be able to identify him."

"His father said Bramwell called him," she blurts out.

What?

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