Chapter 44 Rogue
Rogue
Ivy takes my hand while everyone hugs Summer and thumps Rebel on the back. “I have to show you something.”
It’s the quiet in her voice that makes me prickle and reminds me of how upset she sounded on the phone when she asked me to come in. Before my twin distracted us by finally proposing to Summer.
He should have had that locked down months ago. But would he listen to me when I told him he should make that woman my sister-in-law? Of course not. Stubborn ass.
He’s all ear-to-ear grins now though, so that just proves I was right. I tuck Ivy’s hand into the crook of my elbow. “Show me.”
“When the others leave,” she says as they file to the door. Rebel, Summer, and Kelsey head out first with a ‘see you back at the ranch’. They pile into the rental and drive away while the three Heart brothers volley to say goodbye to Violet.
Dizzy hangs back, waiting for us.
It seems Owen wins Violet’s attention based on stature and status.
It’s probably hard to be ignored when you’re a surly bastard who towers over everyone.
They share a tension laden moment with few words before he strides out.
Storm winks at her and presses a kiss to her temple.
Jett, not to be outdone, plants one on the other side.
“This way.” Ivy leads me into the backroom and from there down a hallway and into a thermostatically controlled cool room.
She stops abruptly, and I bump against her before my brain can process why. The roses are beautiful. Delicate. Pristine.
And familiar.
Awareness, then rage, like poison, creeps through my veins. “Nicole?”
“Yes.” She lifts her hand to her shoulder and that’s the first time I realize she’s been holding the card this whole time.
It’s creased and curved from the warmth of her hand. I open it and read the message. A pitiful attempt at a threat. A worse attempt at faking maternal concern. Nicole’s words are lava in my brain, a throbbing in my temples. “Fucking bitch.”
“Why can’t she leave me alone?” Ivy is calm as she turns to me. Her question is resigned.
“Because you beat her.” I grasp her upper arms and bring her in close. “You’re happy and she’s going to rot. Let’s just go back to the ranch. Get married. Enjoy this time with friends and family.”
“I want to—”
“Aren’t they beautiful?” Violet gushes as she joins us in the room.
Dizzy enters quietly behind her, sticking close to the wall. She eyeballs the flowers like they’re venomous spiders.
Violet rubs a petal carefully between thumb and finger. “Your mom must be a lovely woman.”
Ivy stiffens.
There is nothing lovely about Nicole. The woman is a snake. A selfish, controlling, narcissistic viper. “Destroy them.”
Violet’s eyes widen. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I heard correctly.”
“Burn them,” I manage through gritted teeth. “All of them.”
“I...” She swallows whatever she was going to say before nodding. “I can do that.”
“How’d they get here?” Ivy steps out of my arms. “How’d you take the order?”
“Actually.” Violet’s delicate brows draw down. “The only part of the order that came through me was the delivery. The flowers arrived like this.”
“So she knows where we are.” Ivy wraps her arms around herself as she faces me. “She sent someone here. She’s saying she can get to me. Here. Now. Anywhere.”
Violet’s expression turns frightened. Her shoulders turn inward as she concentrates on picking a bug off one of the blooms.
“Except she’s locked up. And will be for a long time. This is the best she can do, baby.”
“You don’t know that. You hope it’s true, but you don’t know for sure.” Dizzy peels away from the wall.
I glare at her.
Dizzy ignores me. “What if she’s behind the goat?”
Of course there’s always that fear.
“What happened to Stains?” Ivy asks.
“It doesn’t matter.” It probably has nothing to do with us.
“Clearly it does.” Ivy taps her toe, her chin jutting out determinedly.
“It’s dead,” Dizzy says. “Mutilated.”
Ivy presses the tips of her fingers to her mouth. “Who would do something like that?”
Violet has grown paler. She speaks to the flowers. “How awful.”
“We don’t know who it was,” I tell Ivy, hoping I can reassure her. “But that doesn’t sound like Nicole’s style, does it?”
“No.” She worries her lip. “But Nicole is communicating with someone on the outside. We don’t know who or why they’d help her.
We don’t have a clue what they’re capable of.
That means she can get to us. She can ruin our wedding.
She can hurt us. I’m so tired of looking over my shoulder, Rogue.
I thought we were done when we took her reasons to hurt me away, but now she’s being vindictive.
I don’t want to go back to living in fear of her. ”
“You won’t have to.” I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she doesn’t ever have to feel like that again. “I promise.”
“I already am,” she whispers into my neck as I wrap her up in my arms. “And I can’t do it anymore. I want to live my life, Rogue. My life with you. It feels like she’s stealing it from me. And she’s never going to stop.”
“So what do you want to do?” Dizzy plucks a single rose from an arrangement and presses her thumb into the stem until it breaks. The thorn must have punctured her skin because she pops her thumb between her teeth and sucks it. “How do we take it back?”
“I don’t know,” Ivy says.
“Let’s go back to the ranch,” I suggest. “It’s late. There’s nothing we can do tonight. Tomorrow is a big day.”
The one after is even bigger. I will not let Nicole ruin this for us.
“Yes. We should go. Violet, you’re probably exhausted.” Ivy gives the florist a sympathetic look. “Sorry to burden you with all this.”
“It’s fine.” Violet ushers us out of the room and turns off the light.
Dizzy is already at the car by the time we enter the shopfront. We say goodbye to the florist and climb into the back while our security team sits up front.
Ivy rests her head on my shoulder. “Maybe we should hire a hitman.”
“Can we?” Dizzy’s eye light up. “I know a couple. I have their numbers. Well, not on me. That’s not the kind of information you want stored in your phone, but I can ring—”
“Dizzy. We’re not really going to hire a hitman.
” I curl my fingers around Ivy’s and hold on tight.
She doesn’t mean it. My baby is too sweet and kind to follow through on something like that, no matter how frustrated and worried she is.
But maybe it’s time to consider a more permanent solution since the problem refuses to go away.
Dizzy scrunches down in the seat and crosses her arms. “Speak for yourself. If Ivy wants a hitman—”
“It’s not me,” Ivy says. “Sorry, Dizzy.”
“It’s fine. I don’t think I know any hitmen who whack women anyway. On account of the hitmen I know being hitwomen.” She turns to staring out the window. “Although an exception could be made for a Hawthorne.”
Main Street behind us, the dark encroaches as we speed along the long stretch of road in near silence.
Ivy lifts her head. “Let’s go to Vegas.”
Dizzy inhales sharply. “What?”
“Vegas?” We can’t leave our wedding for a wild weekend.
She unsnaps her seatbelt and climbs onto my lap. Her hands bunch in my shirt. “I’m not letting Nicole ruin another minute of my life. I’m not going back to the ranch where she has someone waiting to undermine us. Or hurt us. Or whatever they’re planning.”
“She could be bluffing.”
“And if she’s not?” Headlights brighten the inside of the cabin, illuminating her wide eyes and the tension around her mouth. “I don’t want to wait to see what move she makes next. I want to get married right now. Somewhere she can’t reach us. Don’t you want that too?”
“You know I do.” My heart is pounding. My family is all here for exactly that reason. Her family. Our friends. But there’s something tempting about the idea of leaving all of this behind and saying I do in a lit-up chapel in the desert tonight.
Except it’s not really what either of us wants.
“They’re too close.” The edge in Dizzy’s voice draws my attention.
She crawls onto her knees and shields her eyes as she stares out the back window, as if she can actually see anything in the glare. “I think they’re going to—”
The car shudders at the impact. The air is shoved out of my lungs as I’m forced against the seatbelt. Ivy slams into my chest with a cry. Dizzy cracks her head on the window before she falls backward. The back end fishtails before our driver wrestles it back under control.
Ivy clings to me. “Oh my God.”
We speed up and the lights recede. But not for long.
“Seatbelts, now,” I tell Ivy as I lift her from my knee. Grabbing the sash, I take it from her shaking hands and fasten it for her. Dizzy scrambles to get hers done up too.
The two men up front exchange serious words as the car clips us again. The tires scream and we’re shunted sideways. Metal shrieks as we flip.
And flip.
And flip…
***
The Maddox Family will be back soon in Hollywood Wedding!