Page 44 of The Sexy Ex's Brother
“What are you going to do?” Sienna asks.
I look at the screen again. At my father’s face. At Derek’s.
“I’m going to disappear for a few more days.”
“Ivy…”
“Not forever. Just long enough to collect proof. To dismantle whatever this is from the inside.”
Sienna studies me. “You sound like Jack.”
I manage a smile. “Maybe I finally understand what it means to protect someone you love.”
A pause. Then she nods. The screen goes dark, but I don’t move, because the last part of the message wasn’t just a photo.
It was a sentence:He said you’d come looking. And he said if you did, he’d be ready.
My blood runs cold. This isn’t just a power play anymore, it’s a trap. And I just walked straight into it.
***
Later that afternoon, Sienna paces while I stay glued to my screen, collecting fragments. Photos. Transfer logs. Social media burner accounts. A financial consultant in Zurich just flagged one of Derek’s holding companies, an offshore account showing activity two days before he threatened me. That money went somewhere. That money means intent. This wasn’t improvisation, it was calculated.
“I know someone,” Sienna says suddenly, fingers tapping her thigh. “Remember Lila Rosenthal? Went rogue after that biotech scandal in D.C.? She freelances now. Discreet digital forensics.”
“Is she good?”
“She makes the FBI nervous.”
“Perfect. Reach out.”
Sienna types with a speed that borders on violent. I email Lila what I’ve gathered so far. We’ll see if it’s enough to crack something open.
There’s a part of me that wants to run, again. But that’s the difference now. I’m not running from something. I’m runningtoward it. Toward the truth. Toward control. Toward the man who deserves more than silence and shadows.
I think of Jack’s hands, steady even when mine shook. His voice, low and unshakable, telling me I wasn’t alone. He doesn’t know what I’m doing. But I hope, when this is over, he’ll understand why I had to disappear to protect him. And to come back stronger. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll get to tell him that face to face. Not with an apology, but with something that sounds more like a vow. A second beginning instead of a final goodbye. Because if I fail at this, if I move too fast or trust the wrong person, it won’t just cost me. It’ll cost him. His name. His work. His future. And I won’t let that happen.
***
By nightfall, I have two burner phones, a signal scrambler, and three spreadsheets cross-referencing dates Jack’s name surfaced in the press with Derek’s travel history. There’s a pattern, barely. But it’s there. Every time Jack’s been poised for public success, Derek’s had proximity. Anonymous tips. Sourced rumors. Coordinated leaks.
“You think he’s been orchestrating this for years?” Sienna asks.
“Not years. But long enough to know how to hide it.”
I stare at a photo of Jack from a gala two years ago. He’s laughing, relaxed, radiant in a way I rarely let myself see. I press two fingers to the screen.
“We have to outmaneuver him, not just expose him,” I say.
“What do you need?”
“An inside source. Someone Derek trusts. Someone willing to betray him.”
Sienna thinks. “I might have someone. A PR girl he used to sleep with. They parted messy. She owes me a favor.”
I nod. “Call her.”
She leaves the room. I close my eyes and take a breath. The plan is forming, jagged and imperfect, but there.
