Page 53 of Relentless (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 2)

“We’re sharing an office,” I say absentmindedly as I ponder this new information.

I’m jarred out of my thoughts by Con’s laughter. It’s startling to hear him laugh like this, even Saul is surprised.

“Frank is legendary,” Con chuckles again. “Epic move.”

We pull up to the jeweler on Con’s side of the street, so he slides out first and takes my hand to pull me out like the gentleman he’s not. We walk into a nondescript building and walk up to the second floor. Con knocks on the door, and a security guard opens it. They talk in a language I don’t understand, sounds Russian. The guard walks us back to an office where a middle age balding man sits with a handful of rings out on the table. We both sit down, and the man talks with Con some and asks about Victor before launching into a sales pitch for each ring.

Immediately my eyes land on a cushion cut solitaire ring. I look over at Con and see he’s looking at it, too. Our eyes meet, and when I nod, he starts asking questions.

“Are your diamonds ethically sourced?” I ask bringing their conversation to a halt. When Con glares at me, I hold my hands up and say, “I’m only asking because you know it’ll be important to her.

“They’re not ethically sourced, but they weren’t pulled from a mine by a four-year-old, either,” the man answers with an attitude.

I smile and slide back in my chair. My work as the best friend is done here.

18

LEVI

Punishment.

It’s what I’ve been thinking about non-stop since Dad told me Ivy was interning with him this summer. All the ways I can make her hurt the way I did when she walked away from me. All the ways I can make her bleed like I did for months. That’s a lie, it wasn’t just months. I’m still bleeding.

I bottled up all that pain and let it age within me like a bottle of top-shelf scotch. Now I’m ready to force straight shots of it down her perfect, pretty, little throat. I’m not going to feel one drop of remorse while I watch it burn inside her.

I take a drink of my bourbon as I look down on the city from Griff’s living room window. Knowing I’ll see her tomorrow, that she’s in the same city as me, has electricity surging through my veins. She’ll be close enough to touch. Close enough to hurt.

“Lev,” Griff joins me by the window, “what are you plotting?”

“All the ways I can punish Ivy.” I take another drink.

“Lev…” Griff shakes his head. “Maybe you should sit down and talk about things before you take a deep dive into waters you can’t get out of. You still love her.”

I’m well aware that I still love her. She is mine. She always will be, but I can’t forget the feeling inside me, not just in my heart but also my soul when she left. How the fissures she left in her wake filled with leaden hurt, which grew into a toxic anger.

Once those feelings have been exorcised, I have no doubt we’ll end up together again. I’ve been through enough pussy in the past three years to know that there is no one close to Ivy for me. Even the smart, driven women I would take on actual dates never did it for me. Ivy is my perfect match in every way. I’m just so angry.

“I know.” I drain the rest of my drink, rattling the spherical ice cube as I continue to stare out into the city below. “I can’t just pick up where we left things though. She never reached out once.”

“Neither did you.” He takes my glass over to the bar and fills it back up. “She’s been through a lot. It’s not like she ghosted you for no reason.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that it fucking hurt.” I take the glass back from him. Time to change the direction of this conversation. “How about you? What are your plans now that you’ve been back at NNC for a week?”

“The usual. Making sure we stay the number one source for news. I’m working with several newspapers to bring podcasts of their content to the regions they cover. I’ll probably be traveling some.” He sits down on the couch. “Con picked out a ring for Lilith. He wants us all to go on a trip in a few weeks to Greece. He’s rented a yacht big enough for us and is planning on proposing then. He’s even flying Zion out to surprise her.”

“Hell yeah, I’m in.” I’m not dumb to hope that Ivy won’t be invited. “So, it’ll be us,” I point back and forth between us, “Ivy, and Zion?”

“And Claire.” He frowns as he says her name.

“Oh, shit. Baby V is finally coming on a trip with us? That’ll be fun.” Con will have to split his time between being a possessive dick over Hoodrat and a protective big brother. His head might explode. “Why the weird face about Claire?”

“Just changes the dynamic a bit, you know?”

“No. Not really. She’s always been around. If anyone changes the dynamic, it’s Ivy.”

“You’re the only one who hasn’t been around Ivy in three years. The rest of us have kept in touch.”

“Why are you up her ass?” Now I’m getting pissed. I know they’ve all kept in touch with her, but he needs to step back and remember loyalty.

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