POV: Ivy
Thomas called it a family bonding weekend, but Cecilia treated it like a public execution I was expected to attend with a grateful smile.
By Saturday morning, we were standing in the mud of a sprawling private equestrian estate just outside the city limits. Thomas and my mother watched from the elevated clubhouse terrace, sipping coffee, while Kyle stood fifty yards away, speaking in low tones with the estate’s head stable manager.
Cecilia appeared beside me, immaculate in polished leather boots and a tailored riding jacket. She looked completely in her element. I stood rigidly in faded denim and scuffed sneakers, painfully aware of the divide between us.
"You do ride, don't you?" Cecilia asked, tapping a leather riding crop rhythmically against her thigh.
"No," I replied, keeping my eyes fixed on the distant tree line.
Her perfectly glossed smile brightened with malicious delight. "How unfortunate."
"For whom?" I asked, leaning my back against the wooden stall rail.
"Thomas rented this entire property because he desperately wants us to spend time together," Cecilia said smoothly, though her eyes remained entirely cold. "Refusing to participate would be incredibly rude to your new stepfather. There is nowhere to hide out here, Ivy. You cannot just lock yourself in a storage closet when things get uncomfortable."
It was a carefully laid trap dressed up as high-society etiquette.
A nervous stable hand led a tall, heavily muscled chestnut thoroughbred out of the barn. The mare tossed her massive head, her dark eyes rolling wildly as she stamped a metal-shod hoof against the concrete pathway.
"Duchess," Cecilia announced, gesturing with her crop. "She is perfectly gentle."
The stable hand opened his mouth, gripping the leather bridle tightly. "Miss, actually—"
Cecilia cut him off with a vicious glare. "She is perfectly fine for a beginner, isn't she?"
He looked deeply uncomfortable. "She has not been worked in the paddock today. If the young lady wants a calmer ride, I can switch her for one of the older geldings."
"I am not getting on her," I stated, pushing off the wooden rail.
Cecilia lowered her voice, leaning directly into my personal space. "Of course you are not. You would much rather stay in the dirt and prove Kyle exactly right about you. He already knows you do not belong in this tax bracket. Go ahead. Prove him right."
I glanced toward the open paddock. Kyle had turned his head in our direction. Even from fifty yards away, his dark, calculating stare felt like a physical weight pressing down on my shoulders. I was entirely sick of being treated like a fragile, unwanted problem that this family had to manage.
"Fine," I said, snatching the leather reins from the stable hand.
He spent several frantic minutes adjusting the metal stirrups, warning me not to pull the reins too sharply if Duchess became anxious. I forced myself to project a calm I did not feel, hauling myself into the stiff leather saddle. Duchess shifted instantly beneath me, feeling like a mountain of vibrating, explosive energy.
"Easy," I murmured, gripping the saddle horn so tightly my knuckles turned white.
Heavy hoofbeats approached from the left. Kyle rode over on a massive black stallion, reigning the beast to a halt right beside me. He had shed his usual corporate armor for a dark riding sweater that made his shoulders look impossibly broad.
"You do not know what you are doing," Kyle stated flatly, his dark eyes taking in my white-knuckled grip.
"Your absolute confidence in my abilities remains touching," I replied, refusing to look down at him.
"Get off the horse, Ivy."
Cecilia laughed, riding her pristine white mare closer. "She is perfectly fine, Kyle. Stop trying to scare her. Thomas wants a picture of us heading out on the trail."
"I am not scared," I lied.
Kyle looked directly into my eyes, his jaw tightening. "That is exactly the problem."
"Look over here, girls!" Thomas shouted from the clubhouse terrace, waving his phone enthusiastically.
I turned my head instinctively toward the sound of my stepfather's voice.
Behind Duchess’s flank, heavy leather cracked sharply against horseflesh.
Duchess let out a deafening, panicked shriek. Her massive front legs launched off the ground. The entire world tilted violently backward, and I pitched dangerously toward the horse's tail, grabbing a desperate fistful of coarse mane.
Duchess’s front hooves slammed back into the dirt, and the terrified thoroughbred bolted.
The leather reins burned straight through my bare palms. Wind roared in my ears, instantly swallowing the shouts echoing behind me. The mare tore across the open, frost-covered field, heading straight for the jagged, dense pine tree line at a breakneck speed. Every frantic stride slammed against my spine, throwing me completely out of rhythm until my sneakers slipped entirely out of the metal stirrups.
"Whoa!" I screamed, clamping my knees against the saddle.
A low-hanging oak branch whipped past my shoulder, missing my skull by mere inches. I flattened my upper body against Duchess's sweaty neck, squeezing my eyes shut.
Hoofbeats thundered furiously on my left side, rapidly gaining ground.
"Ivy!" Kyle roared over the rushing wind.
I cracked my eyes open. His massive black stallion drew level with my runaway mare. Kyle rode low and aggressively in the saddle, his face stripped of every smug, calculating expression I had ever seen. He looked lethal.
"Give me your right hand!" Kyle commanded.
"I will fall!" I screamed back, tears of sheer panic stinging my eyes.
"You are going to hit those trees if you stay there!"
Duchess veered wildly. The dense timberline rushed toward us like a solid green wall. Kyle spurred his stallion ruthlessly, forcing his horse violently closer until our heavy leather saddles were practically grinding against each other.
"On three, let go of the saddle!" Kyle instructed. "One... Two... Three!"
I let go of the leather horn and reached blindly across the terrifying gap between the galloping animals.
Kyle’s large hand locked around my forearm like a steel vise. His other arm swept out, catching me tightly around the waist. With a brutal display of sheer physical strength, he ripped me completely out of my saddle, launching me airborne.
I slammed hard against his solid chest, the breath knocking completely out of my lungs.
Kyle dragged me forcefully across his lap, pinning me flush against his torso while he hauled his stallion’s reins back with his free hand. The black horse fought him for several terrifying strides, its hooves tearing up massive chunks of frosted earth, before finally slowing into a hard, aggressive circle.
Duchess disappeared into the dark timberline.
For a long, suspended moment, the only sound in the freezing air was the frantic panting of the horse and the heavy, rapid thud of Kyle's heart beneath my cheek. I was sprawled sideways across his thighs, shivering violently from the adrenaline crash. His arm remained banded securely around my ribs, anchoring me so tightly I could feel the rigid tension in every muscle of his body.
He smelled of crisp winter wind, expensive cedar, and something uniquely, intoxicatingly male. The scent completely short-circuited my lingering terror, replacing it with a sudden, suffocating awareness of exactly how intimately our bodies were pressed together.
"You absolute idiot," Kyle breathed harshly against my hair.
The words were an insult, but his voice was a low, ragged whisper that vibrated deep in his chest. His large hand didn't release my waist; instead, his fingers flexed, slowly and almost tenderly stroking the trembling curve of my spine, as if he physically couldn't bear to let me go.
I tilted my head up, intending to push him away.
My breath hitched. His face was mere inches from mine. The icy, arrogant billionaire was gone. His dark eyes were blown wide, blazing with a raw, unfiltered intensity that made my stomach drop. His gaze flicked down to my mouth, lingering there for a heart-stopping second, and the freezing mountain air suddenly felt entirely too hot to breathe.
I shoved against his broad shoulders to break the overwhelming, dangerous spell.
"Cecilia hit the horse!" I gasped, trying to slide down.
"You do not climb onto an animal you cannot control just because someone insults your pride," Kyle fired back, his protective warmth instantly hardening back into anger as he tightened his grip to keep me from falling.
"I said she hit her with the crop!" I yelled, my throat raw.
"And I am saying you could have snapped your fucking neck!"
I wrenched my right arm upward, pushing hard against his shoulder to break his hold. The rough fabric of my oversized sweater snagged on the saddle horn, sliding all the way up to my elbow.
Kyle went entirely still beneath me.
His dark gaze dropped instantly to my exposed forearm.
Ugly, mottled purple-and-black fingerprints ringed the pale skin just above my wrist. It was a vicious, undeniable handprint—the brutal mark left by the underground club bouncer three nights ago when he had tried to drag my hand away from the broken glass.
I panicked and yanked my sleeve down.
Kyle moved faster. He caught my wrist before I could hide the evidence, his thumb hovering mere millimeters above the bruised flesh. The furious heat radiating from him vanished, replaced by an absolute, terrifying coldness.
"Who did this to you?" Kyle asked, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper.
Before I could answer, Cecilia cantered into the clearing on her white mare, her perfectly glossed lips arranged into a mask of exaggerated concern.
"Oh my God, Ivy, are you okay?" Cecilia gasped, pulling her horse to a halt. Her eyes dropped to Kyle's hand wrapped around my wrist. "Oh, those bruises. Were those from Eric? You two were always fighting like street trash."
I froze in Kyle's arms. The remaining adrenaline in my veins turned to absolute ice.
I stared at his perfect childhood friend, my mind racing in horrified circles. I had been dragged into Kyle's underground club three days ago. I had moved into the Blackwood estate two days ago. I had spoken to Cecilia exactly twice in my entire life.
I had never told her my ex-boyfriend's name.
POV: Ivy
By the time the Blackwood driver navigated the heavy SUV back through the iron gates of the estate, my adrenaline had completely burned out, leaving only a deep, throbbing ache radiating through my bruised hip.
Kyle stepped out first, extending his hand to help me down. I ignored his offer entirely, sliding out the opposite door and swallowing a sharp wince as my boots hit the pavement.
"You are limping," Kyle stated, his dark eyes instantly tracking my awkward, uneven stance.
"Congratulations on your flawless eyesight," I shot back, turning my back on him and limping toward the grand entrance.
"See the estate doctor," he ordered, his heavy footsteps following right behind me.
"No," I refused, gripping the heavy brass door handle. "Practice giving your corporate commands to someone who actually works for you."
I left him standing on the stone steps and walked inside. Cecilia was already waiting near the top of the grand staircase, changed into a pristine cream silk lounge set, looking as though she hadn't nearly sent me crashing into a pine tree an hour ago.
"You made quite the pathetic performance out there," Cecilia sneered, swirling a glass of sparkling water. "Thomas was mortified. A grown woman screaming on a horse."
I stopped one step below her, ignoring the throbbing pain in my leg. "You hit the horse with your crop."
"Prove it," she challenged, a smug, untouchable smile stretching across her glossy lips. "It is your word against mine, Ivy. And who do you think Kyle will believe? His oldest friend, or the gold digger trying to steal his inheritance?"
I held her gaze, refusing to let her see how much her proximity exhausted me. "That is an interesting question, considering you knew Eric's name in the clearing today."
Cecilia's flawless smile faltered for a fraction of a second. She recovered quickly, her fingers tightening around her crystal glass. "Kyle told me about him."
"Did he?" I asked, my voice dropping to a cool, flat register. "You should really focus on keeping your stories straight."
I pushed past her and limped down the corridor. I found Mr. Thorne arranging fresh lilies on a console table near the guest wing. I paused, glancing back to ensure the hallway was empty.
"Mr. Thorne, did Kyle tell Cecilia about Eric?" I asked quietly.
The head butler paused his work, his professional demeanor tightening. "Mr. Kyle explicitly instructed the entire security and household staff not to speak a single word of that night to anyone," Thorne replied, his eyes serious. "Including Miss Cecilia."
A cold thread of absolute certainty moved down my spine. I thanked him and walked away, my mind racing. Cecilia’s careless use of Eric's name no longer felt like a simple slip of upper-class gossip. It was a massive, glaring loose thread, and for the first time since the underground club, I had enough distance from my own panic to realize Kyle's childhood best friend was somehow connected to my nightmare.
The guest bathroom offered scalding hot water and a heavy brass deadbolt. I stood under the shower spray, letting the intense heat soothe my trembling muscles, but the water could not wash away the dark, ugly bruises blooming across my ribs and my wrist. I turned off the faucet. My wet foot slipped on the smooth marble as I reached for a towel.
My bruised hip slammed brutally against the unforgiving floor tiles, knocking a sharp, breathless gasp from my lungs.
The heavy bathroom door burst open, the brass lock shattering as the wood violently struck the drywall.
Kyle froze in the doorway. I sat on the wet marble, completely naked, shivering, and entirely exposed.
His gaze swept over my dripping skin, snagging immediately on the violent purple marks staining my ribs and my shoulder. The arrogant, icy hostility I was so used to seeing on his face vanished entirely, replaced by a dark, terrifying intensity that made my breath catch. He crossed the room in two massive strides, ripping a large bath sheet from the heated rack, and wrapped it securely around my trembling body. His large hands lingered heavily on my bare shoulders, the heat of his palms burning right through the thick white cotton.
"Who touched you?" Kyle demanded, his voice a low, lethal rasp.
His chest heaved, his dark eyes searching mine with raw, frantic concern. The sheer proximity of his body was suffocating. I could still smell the crisp winter air and cedar on his skin from the horse ride. My heart hammered wildly against my ribs, a terrifying, confusing mix of vulnerability and sudden, heavy attraction pooling in my stomach. Eric had taught me that relying on a man's protection was the fastest way to get destroyed, but the way Kyle was looking at me right now made every instinct I had scream to lean into his chest.
I gritted my teeth and shoved my hands hard against him, fighting my own weakness. "Get out of here."
Kyle did not step back. His grip tightened fractionally on my shoulders, anchoring me in place. "I am not leaving until you tell me who left those bruises on your skin."
"Ask the man you still haven't managed to find," I countered, clutching the edges of the towel tightly against my chest.
Kyle's expression hardened, the lethal protector taking over. "We found Eric's apartment this morning. It was completely cleared out."
My stomach plummeted, a sudden rush of nausea killing the lingering heat between us. Eric was gone, which meant he was desperate, hiding, and completely unpredictable.
I pushed past Kyle's frozen frame, limping quickly out of the steamy bathroom before my trembling legs could give out completely.
I retreated to my cramped utility room, locking the door firmly behind me. I sat heavily on the edge of the narrow cot, pulling the towel tighter around my shoulders.
My phone screen lit up on the small desk.
It was an unknown number, but the message contained a high-resolution photograph of the glass office tower where I was supposed to start my new logistics job on Monday morning. A second text chimed immediately after.
Fifty thousand by noon tomorrow, or I walk into that lobby with every photo from the club.
My blood ran completely cold. Eric hadn't just disappeared; he was already actively hunting my future, holding the only chance I had at true independence hostage.
POV: Ivy
By seven the next evening, the heavy scent of roasted garlic and expensive Cabernet suffocated me inside the private dining room of a downtown steakhouse. I sat rigidly in my high-backed leather chair, staring at the condensation on my water glass while Mr. Gorski’s sweaty palm slid another inch up my bare thigh beneath the white linen tablecloth. I shifted my leg, trying to dislodge him subtly, but his thick fingers immediately followed the movement, squeezing my knee with a sickening sense of entitlement.
Across the round table, my new regional manager, David, pretended to be entirely absorbed in the dessert menu. He had hired me three days earlier for a junior sales position at this Blackwood-owned distribution subsidiary, and he had seated me next to our most lucrative client on purpose. I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted copper. The text message Eric had sent me yesterday in the utility room still burned brightly behind my eyelids: fifty thousand dollars by noon tomorrow, or he would flood my new corporate lobby with the horrific photos from the underground club. If I caused a scene and lost this commission, I would have absolutely zero leverage left to fight the blackmail.
David finally looked up, raising his champagne flute with a wide, practiced smile. "To a highly productive partnership, gentlemen. And to our newest associate, Ivy, who truly understands the importance of keeping our top clients completely satisfied."
The thinly veiled, disgusting implication in David's toast shattered the last remaining fraction of my endurance. I pushed my chair back, the wooden legs scraping loudly against the polished floor tiles, and announced I needed to use the restroom before walking briskly out of the dining room.
The corridor outside was quiet, lined with dark wood paneling and vintage photographs of old New York. I took a deep, trembling breath, desperately trying to scrub the phantom feeling of Gorski's greasy fingers off my skin. Heavy footsteps thudded against the carpet behind me.
"You left before dessert," Gorski said, stepping forward to block the narrow hallway.
"Go back to the table, Mr. Gorski," I demanded, my pulse spiking. "We are finished discussing business for the evening."
"David told me you understood exactly what was expected to close this deal," Gorski sneered, shoving his heavy weight against me to trap me against the wall. "Do not act innocent. Girls like you do not get hired into rooms like that for their spreadsheets."
He grabbed the front collar of my silk blouse, his breath reeking of bourbon. Something inside my chest went completely, terrifyingly calm. I raised my hand and slapped him directly across the face with every ounce of strength I possessed.
The sharp, cracking sound of my palm striking his cheek echoed violently down the empty corridor.
"You little bitch," Gorski hissed, his face turning a mottled red as he raised his massive fist to strike me back.
A large hand shot out from the shadows and caught Gorski’s thick wrist in mid-air.
Kyle Blackwood materialized beside us, his dark eyes radiating pure, unadulterated violence. He did not ask for an explanation or hesitate for a single second. Kyle twisted Gorski's arm downward with a sickening pop, driving the massive man backward into a brass service cart before delivering a single, ruthless strike to his ribs that folded the client in half.
Gorski collapsed onto the carpet amid a shower of shattered dessert plates, groaning in agony.
"Touch her again," Kyle warned, his voice a low, lethal rumble that shook the air, "and the contract you came here to celebrate will be the least expensive thing you lose tonight."
David rushed around the corner, his face draining of color as he took in the carnage. "Mr. Blackwood! I can explain this, it was a client-management decision—"
"You are fired," Kyle stated coldly, not even turning his head to look at the manager. "Security will collect your badge."
I stared at the billionaire heir, my chest heaving, but I felt absolutely no rush of gratitude. I will play the attentive, protective billionaire, his voice echoed perfectly in my memory from the billiards room. I knew exactly what he was doing. He wasn't saving me; he was executing his twenty-nine-day playbook. He was systematically destroying my independent income and isolating me, playing the violent hero so I would be forced to rely entirely on his wealth and protection.
"You do not get to storm into my job and rearrange everyone around me," I snapped, furious that he was using my trauma as a prop for his bet.
Kyle turned his intense gaze onto me, looking as if I had completely lost my mind. "He was assaulting you in a hallway."
"And I handled it," I shot back, lifting my chin.
His eyes dropped to the torn button at my collar, his jaw locking so tightly the muscle ticked beneath his skin. "We are leaving right now."
He clamped his hand around my wrist, ignoring my protests, and dragged me out the front doors, shoving me directly into the backseat of the idling black Maybach waiting at the curb. He climbed in right after me, hitting the electronic divider control to seal us in the back of the cabin away from the driver.
"How desperate are you for money?" Kyle demanded, shifting closer to pin me with his stare. "You would rather let garbage like that touch you than ask me for a single dime of help."
"Do you really think this is about my pride?" I yelled, shoving his solid chest to put distance between us. "If I lose my job, I lose the only income I have to pay a lawyer and fight the loan sharks trying to destroy my life! I am trying to survive!"
"You will destroy yourself just to prove you do not need my family's money," Kyle countered, his tone laced with heavy frustration.
"And you are furious because I keep surviving without your permission!" I fired back. "We are two enemies trapped under the same roof, Kyle. Whatever happened at that hotel changed absolutely nothing."
Kyle stared at me for a long, suffocating moment, his chest rising and falling heavily in the dark cabin. To completely shut down his arrogant savior complex, I reached into my clutch and pulled out my phone, unlocking the screen.
I shoved the glowing device directly into his chest. The highly realistic, fabricated naked photograph of me burned brightly between us, accompanied by Eric's filthy blackmail ultimatum, freezing the furious billionaire into absolute, horrified silence.
