Page 37 of Sensual Games

It wasn’t enough.

Fuck, how was I supposed to know Ivy’s entire life was wrapped up in her mother? Idiot. You should have figured it out on your own. Here I’d been all these weeks, maybe too full of myself for taking charge of the team the way I had and feeling a little smug after earning the respect of my employees.

And it never fucking hit me that Ivy made more than enough to live in a better apartment than the shoebox she currently called home. I was never inside until I showed up unannounced, but I’d seen the building on Google Earth. I’d had a pretty good idea of what I would find once I was inside.

This wasn’t enough. I had to do more for her. Why? Because this wasn’t just any woman. Ivy opened my eyes to a few things I never considered. I’d never had to. Not for a day in my life had I faced the challenges Ivy took on every day. I’d never woken up and wondered if there would be a phone call telling me my loved one needed help I couldn’t provide. I never had to make the choice between paying my bills and filling my refrigerator. But it was much more than that. Ivy was more to me than that.

A brief look around Ivy’s apartment on Sunday night told me what that decision looked like for her. She’d passed out cold after we finished, too wiped out to do more than curl up in a ball on the bed that must have also served as a sofa and a dining table.

It had given me the chance to get to know her better. Her refrigerator held nothing more than a few cups of yogurt and half a carton of eggs. The cabinets? Packets of Ramen, boxes of instant oatmeal, and generic cereal.

There was a photo on the wall beside a full-length mirror. Ivy, several years younger, smiling wide in her cap and gown. Beside her was a woman who could easily have been an older sister. Ivy’s joy had reflected on her face.

Lost in my thoughts, I turned to gaze out toward Ivy’s desk. She was busy as always, going over reports with a couple of the girls from the team. No one would ever know she had all of this going on in the background of her life, and that if it wasn’t for the meals provided at work, she might have gone hungry.

And she was one person. A single employee. How many others were there? Sure, we compensated everyone generously, but where did that money go? How many others had family members who needed support? How many people had to choose between medication for themselves or someone who depended on them? What the hell was I supposed to do about it?

It was almost a relief when I recognized Dad strutting down the hall, coming my way. Things hadn’t exactly been warm or friendly between us since I walked out on dinner, but what else was new? He only started trying to be my friend after he shoved me into this fucking job.

Still, gritting my teeth through a talk with him was somehow easier to swallow than sitting around, thinking about Ivy’s problems, wondering if there was another way I could help her without insulting her.

He barged in without knocking, but that wasn’t a surprise. It wasn’t like I couldn’t see him coming, anyway. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked, forcing a cordial greeting for the sake of the women watching from outside the room. Women who tried like hell to make it look like they weren’t paying attention when it was clear they were hanging on every moment. The reason? Dad’s scowl. It was clear he meant business.

“Frost the glass,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth. So much for greetings. I did as he asked, exchanging one quick look with Ivy as I hit the button to block her from my view.

At least I could drop the act now. “What is it?” I asked, leaning back in my chair while he came to a stop in front of my desk.

“Your mother called me in tears. It turns out she had brunch with her friend Felicity this morning and the poor girl you walked out on last Friday was humiliated. You haven’t yet bothered to apologize to either of us for that embarrassing tantrum you threw, by the way.”

“Thank you for noticing,” I gritted out, gripping the arms of my chair rather than launching myself across the desk and grabbing him by the throat. “I had no intention of apologizing. I spoke to Clover. We’re fine.” I narrowed my eyes when he started sputtering. What, did he think I was going to burst into tears? “And I highly doubt Clover was as humiliated as her mom says,” I continued. “Did you ever think maybe her parents wanted this more than we did? You know, just like you and Mom? I’m not going to be guilted into settling down. I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.” As a punctuation mark, I checked the time. “I have a meeting in ten minutes, so you might want to get to the point.”

He jabbed a finger at me, his face slowly going from its natural, healthy tan to a telltale shade of deep, angry red. “Call your mother. Apologize. That’s a start.”

“I will. I’ve been busy.”

“I need you to understand something.” He drew a deep breath and released it slowly, grinding his teeth. From where I sat, I was the only one going through pain as a result of this conversation. “I am not handing my empire over to a child who would rather spend his evenings drinking and whoring around than build something lasting. That is not the sort of man who can be trusted. Do you understand?”

“I never asked you to hand your empire over to me.” Rising slowly, I studied the look of blank surprise that washed over his face. Like it was unthinkable, not wanting to accept control of his precious empire. “I’m going to need you to keep that in mind the next time you threaten me and accuse me of not being the right sort of man to take over for you.”

“I know I’m not hearing this.” He barked out a sharp laugh. “Not standing here in a building I own. Not from my own son.”

“The next time you want to offer someone a job, make sure you explain the entirety of the terms,” I suggested, hitting the button to clear the glass. “Because this is the first time I’m hearing about needing to be married to the right girl if I expect to have a future here.”

There was nothing he could do, not with so many people sitting outside my office. No choice but to accept what I said without arguing. It was killing him. “Call your mother,” he reminded me through clenched teeth, straightening his tie and throwing his shoulders back before striding from the room.

Ignorant bastard. Stupid too. He truly thought Clover gave two shits over what happened last Friday?“Believe me, I get it,”she told me when I had called her last week to apologize.“Do you want to hear a funny story? I’m already seeing somebody, but he isn’t from the kind of family Mom and Dad want me involved with. So they basically pretend he doesn’t exist. My mom already told your mom I would be there, so I sort of felt like I had to go through with it.”

There wasn’t a parent alive who wouldn’t want their daughter to marry the son of Connor Diamond. A fucking billionaire, one of the most powerful men in media. I was the only child, the heir apparent whether I liked it or not.

Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Ivy was standing, picking up her tablet, ready for the team meeting. I had offered to pay for her mom’s care, and she had turned me down. She was a different breed from the people I’d known all my life—social climbers, gold diggers, general trash.

Then there was this smart, beautiful, selfless woman. I honestly hadn’t known there were people like her outside of fiction.

I headed out. She waited for me, tapping her nails on her tablet and chewing her lip. “That didn’t look good,” she fretted in a soft voice. “What happened?”

For obvious reasons, I hadn’t told her about Clover. Considering Ivy had been in the middle of helping her mother through a freshly broken hip at the same time, my problems seemed small by comparison. “Talking for the sake of hearing himself,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Nothing to worry about. You look gorgeous today, by the way.” There was no helping it. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t keep my mind away from her body, hair, and pink lips.

“Thank you,” she murmured, checking me out with a quick up-and-down glance. “So do you.”

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