Chapter 17
IVY
Isat on the log as the sky deepened to purple, the last traces of daylight bleeding away.
My headphones blocked out the world, filling my ears with the kind of music that let me think without drowning in my own thoughts.
The park had emptied as evening approached, just the occasional jogger passing by, their footsteps barely audible over the bass line.
The city lived and breathed around me, but here, tucked away by the water's edge, I could pretend I was somewhere else. Somewhere simple, where the biggest decision I faced was what to order for dinner.
My phone lit up in my lap. Elena's name flashed across the screen.
I declined the call and tucked the phone back into my pocket, focusing on the water instead. The river moved in constant motion, never stopping, never second-guessing its path. Unlike me, who seemed to excel at standing still while everything fell apart around me.
The phone buzzed again. Sofia this time.
I hit decline without looking at the message that followed. Whatever they wanted to say about Eric, about my choices, about the mess I'd walked into, I didn't want to hear it. Not right now. Not when I was still trying to figure out what the hell I actually wanted.
The music shifted to something slower, and I sighed, letting my eyes drift closed. Just a few more minutes of peace before I had to face everything waiting for me back home.
My phone rang a third time, vibrating insistently against my thigh.
"For fuck's sake," I muttered, pulling it out to see Elena's name again.
But this time there was a text beneath the missed call notification.
You're in danger. Get somewhere public NOW.
I barely had time to process the words before something rough and heavy slammed over my head. Canvas. A bag that smelled like dirt and oil, blocking out the darkening sky, the park, everything.
Are you kidding me right now?
I screamed, the sound muffled by the thick fabric. My hands flew up, clawing at whatever was covering my face, but someone grabbed my wrists and yanked them down.
"Stop fucking fighting."
The voice was male, harsh, and unfamiliar.
Panic and sheer disbelief warred in my chest. Seriously?
Again? What was I, some kind of cosmic magnet for psychopaths?
Another set of hands grabbed my waist, hoisting me off the log.
My feet kicked out wildly, connecting with something solid that made one of my attackers grunt in pain.
Good. Hope that hurt, asshole.
"Grab her legs, goddammit."
My earphones ripped out, the wires tangling and snapping as I thrashed like a cornered animal.
I couldn't see anything, couldn't breathe right through the bag, but I sure as hell wasn't going down easy.
I twisted hard, breaking one hand free, and raked my nails down what felt like someone's arm.
The satisfying hiss of pain that followed almost made me smile.
Not such an easy target, am I?
Strong arms wrapped around my middle, lifting me completely off the ground despite my struggles.
"IVY!"
Eric's voice cut through the chaos, and a touch of relief hit me. His footsteps pounded against the ground, getting closer.
"Fuck off, man. This doesn't concern you."
"Like hell it doesn't. Let. Her. Go."
The command in Eric's voice sent a chill down my spine even through my terror. This wasn't the man who'd brought me bagels and coffee. This was someone else entirely.
The Eric that was here to forge an alliance with the Donatis, the one who belonged in their world.
"Walk away before you get hurt."
"Last warning."
Two gunshots cracked through the evening air.
I flinched hard, my scream trapped in my throat. The hands holding me went slack, and I stumbled as the bodies on either side of me hit the ground with sickening thuds. Heavy. Final.
Running footsteps. More than one person.
"Ivy." Eric's hands were on me, gentle despite everything. "You're okay. I've got you."
He pulled the bag off my head, and I gasped in the cool evening air. My vision swam, colors and shapes blurring together before focusing on Eric's face. His dark eyes locked onto mine, searching my face with an intensity that made my chest tight.
"Focus on me. You're fine. You're safe." His voice was steady, grounding. "Just breathe, okay? In and out."
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My gaze dropped to the two bodies sprawled on either side of me. Both men, both wearing dark clothes. Both shot in the head, blood pooling on the grass beneath them.
Both trying to kidnap me.
"What—" My voice came out shaky. "What are you doing here?"
"Following you." He kept his hands on my shoulders, steadying me, his thumbs rubbing small circles against my jacket. "I had a bad feeling. Call me a stalker, call me whatever you want, but at least you're safe."
He guided me away from the bodies, his arm around my waist as my legs threatened to give out. Each step felt disconnected, like I was watching someone else walk through this nightmare. The surreal quality of it all hit me harder than the fear. How was this my life now?
"Easy," he murmured when I stumbled. "I've got you. You're not going to fall."
It took me a second to register that there was another man, a gun held loosely at his side.
He looked toward us as we approached, his expression unreadable in the dim light.
"One of my guards, Ivan," Eric explained, following my gaze. "He helped me take them down."
The guard nodded once, professional and detached, like shooting people in a park was just another normal evening for him. Maybe it was. I wanted to make some sarcastic comment about his casual evening activities, but my throat felt too tight.
"Who were they?" I heard myself ask.
"I have a suspicion." Eric's jaw tightened, but his grip on me remained gentle. "But I need to confirm before—"
My phone rang again, vibrating in my hand. Elena's name lit up the screen.
My hands shook as I answered. "Elena?"
"Ivy, thank god. Where are you? You need to get somewhere safe right now. We're on our way, the Donatis are with me. We think the Malatestas are targeting you."
"They were, I guess." I looked at the two bodies that Eric's guard was now standing by, feeling that familiar defensive humor creeping back in despite everything.
"Eric just saved me. Him and his guard. Apparently I'm this season's must-have accessory for every criminal organization in the city. Should I start charging admission?"
The joke fell flat even to my own ears, but it helped steady my breathing.
Silence on the other end, then muffled voices as Elena shared the information with someone else.
"Jackson wants to talk to Eric." Elena's voice sounded strained. "Can you put him on?"
I held the phone out to Eric, who took it and stepped a few feet away, though his eyes never left me entirely. His voice dropped lower as he spoke.
"Jackson. Yeah, she's fine. Shaken up, but unharmed.
" A pause. "I followed her from her apartment.
Wanted to be close in case she needed me, and I was worried someone at the club might have leaked my involvement with her.
Given what's happening with the alliance, I didn't trust the Malatestas to play nice. "
Another pause, longer this time. Eric's expression darkened.
"Right. If the Malatestas were called to a meeting with the Donatis and the Hales, they'd put two and two together quick enough." He glanced at me, then back toward the bodies. "How they learned about it is the real problem. Someone talked."
He nodded at whatever Jackson was saying. So it was the Malatestas. Again. And it was because of Eric's connection to me apparently. Not my connection to Elena. Wonderful.
"Good. Definitely vet everyone who was at the club that night. Find the leak before this gets worse."
Eric ended the call and handed my phone back. He moved to his guard and said something, too quiet for me to hear, then walked back to me.
"Let's get you to your car," he said, his hand finding the small of my back again.
"What about them?" I bobbed my head at the bodies, my voice gaining some of its usual edge despite the tremor running through me. "Are we just going to leave two corpses decorating the park? Because I'm pretty sure that's frowned upon by the city planning committee. Bad for property values."
A ghost of a smile crossed his lips, there and gone again.
"Ivan will keep an eye on them. It's late, not many people around now.
I'll grab something from my car to cover them until the Donatis arrive.
Someone may have reported the shots too," he said quietly, guiding me up the path and back to the parking lot.
"Here." He opened the driver's door and helped me inside, his hand lingering on my arm.
The touch was warm, steadying. "You're going to be fine," he said, though I caught the way his eyes searched my face, looking for cracks in my composure.
"I'll be right back. Just sit tight for a minute, okay?
You don't have to think about anything right now except breathing. "
He disappeared across the parking lot toward another vehicle, a dark SUV with tinted windows. He returned a moment later with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, heading back toward where his guard waited.
I sat in my car, hands gripping the steering wheel, and stared at nothing.
My thoughts raced in circles, fragments of panic and disbelief crashing together.
Body-dealing duffel bag. Did he just have one of those ready to go?
Was that a thing people in his world kept on hand? Full of tarps and whatnot?
A weak laugh bubbled up from my chest. The sound felt wrong, borderline hysterical, but I couldn't stop it. Nothing about this was funny. Nothing. But the laughter kept coming anyway, shaky and thin.
"Get it together, Ivy," I whispered to the empty car. My voice cracked on the words. "Just breathe. You've handled worse than this."
Sure, I'd been kidnapped and dealt with dead bodies once before, but twice? This was pushing it.
"This is insane," I said aloud, pressing my palms against my eyes. "This is completely insane and you're talking to yourself because apparently that's what you do now when people try to kidnap you."
I forced myself to take a deeper breath, then another. The panic was still there, coiled tight in my chest, but at least the hysterical laughter was fading.
I could drive away. Right now. Start the car and leave all of this behind. Leave Eric and the Donatis and the whole goddamn mess.
But leave to where? And what about Elena? What about Anna, who'd finally found happiness with Beau? What about the life I'd built here, however difficult and weird it had become?
My hands stayed on the wheel, but I didn't turn the key.
Eric returned, sliding into the passenger seat beside me. He didn't speak right away, just sat there in the growing darkness.
"Thank you," I finally managed. "For stalking me."
"I knew you'd be mad." His voice was quiet, careful. "But I had your best interests at heart."
"Oh, well that makes it so much better," I said, turning to face him with a raised eyebrow. "Should I get you a creepy van with 'Free Candy' painted on the side, or do you already have one? Really complete the whole stalker aesthetic you've got going."
Despite everything, the corner of his mouth twitched upward. "That's my girl."
"Don't 'my girl' me when you're literally admitting to following me around like some kind of demented guardian angel." I crossed my arms. "That's why you left me the first time, wasn't it? All this noble protector bullshit?"
He nodded slowly. "I didn't think you needed to be dragged into this life. Thought keeping you away was the right thing to do." He turned to look at me, and in the dim light from the parking lot lamps, his eyes held something raw. "But it looks like this life found you anyway."
I thought about Elena and Jackson. About Sofia and Grayson. About how my friends had chosen this world, had built their lives inside it despite the danger.
"Yeah, I guess a normal life was never in the cards for me," I said with a scoff.
"You're anything but normal, Ivy. And it's what makes you perfect, someone truly amazing."
"Wow, and here I thought getting kidnapped was the highlight of my evening," I said dryly. "But no, apparently it's getting a compliment from my stalker ex-boyfriend. My standards have really hit rock bottom."
Eric let out a genuine laugh, and some of the tension in the car seemed to dissolve. "Your sarcasm game is still unmatched."
"Years of practice dealing with terrible men," I shot back, but I was fighting a smile now. "It's like a survival skill at this point."
"Lucky me," he said, grinning. "I get to be the beneficiary of all that experience."
"Don't get too comfortable. I'm still deciding whether to be grateful or file a restraining order."
His expression grew serious again, though the warmth remained in his eyes. "As soon as I saw you again, I realized I didn't want to lose you. Not again. I want to have you in my life, Ivy. For the rest of my life, if you'll allow it."
My chest tightened, and I looked away, staring at the steering wheel instead of his face.
"Eric..." I started, then stopped. How did I even begin to respond to that? Part of me wanted to lean into the warmth in his voice, to believe that maybe we could somehow make this work. But another part, the part that had spent four years learning to live without him, was screaming warnings.
"I know it's messy," he said quietly. "I know I hurt you when I left. I know I have no right to ask for another chance."
"You're right," I said, finally meeting his gaze. "You don't. Do you have any idea what it was like? One day you were there, talking about our future, and the next you were just... gone. Just a text as an explanation, no way to actually talk to you."
His jaw clenched. "I thought I was protecting you."
"I know, but it still hurt. Then all of this… it's hard, Eric. "
He leaned back in his seat, and I could see the internal war playing out across his features. "So what do we do now? Where does that leave us?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could form the words, the sudden glare of headlights flooded the car. Then another set. And another.
"Shit," Eric muttered, his hand immediately going to his weapon as a convoy of black SUVs pulled into the parking lot, surrounding us.