Chapter 55: A grand gesture

Ivy’s pov

"But you said it would be ready this morning!"

Look, I didn’t mean to yell, with my voice echoing in the cluttered, cave-like office that smelled of stale pizza and energy drinks. But it was a Monday morning; I’d had a restless weekend, thanks to Gideon and no thanks to a particular blackmailer who was starting to get on my nerves.

All I wanted was to find the location of whatever asshole was trying to blackmail me in that asshole.

What if it was one of the Knight brothers?

Cody, the tech guy, didn’t even look up from his triple-monitor setup. His fingers flew across a glowing keyboard, the click-clack sound the only response for like a solid ten seconds.

"Yeah, well, things come up, lady. I got... other stuff. You know how it is."

He finally swiveled in his chair, a greasy-haired guy in a faded One Direction band t-shirt who probably hadn’t seen the sun since the last solar eclipse. He gave me a lazy smile. "I can prioritize it, though. For a small... rush fee."

I should have known better than to get a hacker off Craigslist. I scoffed, crossing my arms.

"Really? After paying you one grand on Sunday?"

One grand that was supposed to buy me peace of mind and unmask the bastard blackmailing me. My mind drifted back to Saturday night, to Extasim.

To Deon.

God, just thinking his name made my pussy clench. The way he’d commanded me, the stinging whip on my ass, the humiliating, thrilling way I’d squirted all over that chair... I was terrified; my body still had some faint red marks of his punishment, but I was also more alive than I had ever been.

I just wished he had fucked me with that Godzilla-sized nine-inch cock he was packing.

I would have been walking funny for a week, but it would have been so, so worth it.

"This wasn’t the deal, Cody. You had just one job."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "And I’ll do it. Just chill. It’s complicated."

"No, it’s not! I don’t have time for this!" I turned for the door immediately. "You find the owner of a burner phone. It’s an easy job. I’ll find someone else who thinks so, too."

That got his attention. The lazy look on his face vanished. "Whoa, whoa, wait. Come on, lady, don’t be like that. It’s not that deep." He was already swiveling back to his keyboard, typing furiously.

"Look, I’ll find it in like thirty minutes. I’ll send you the live location. You don’t even have to worry."

"Oh, so I should have threatened you sooner," I mumbled, shaking my head.

My work phone rang in my purse, and after biting out, "It better not be more than thirty minutes," To Cody, I fished it out to see Roman’s name displayed on it.

My lips curled in a smile as I walked out of the building before I stomped it down. What the hell? Since when did I smile whenever I get a call from a Knight? "Hello?"

"Vivi," his voice came through, a lyrical, gravelly drawl that was like warm honey. "Where are you? It’s almost ten. You’ve never come late before."

My cheeks heated up. "I’m just running a quick errand. I’m on my way."

"I’ve been counting down the minutes until Monday. The weekend felt like a year without you."

Holy father in heaven, the smile was coming back!

"Hurry back to me."

"I... ah," I cleared my throat, my entire face on fire. "I’m on my way."

***

Twenty minutes later, I was dropped off at the sprawling Winslow Estate. Roman was waiting for me on the stone steps of the main entrance, looking like something out of a magazine with his sun-kissed skin and wispy blonde curls.

My heart did a nervous little skip when he rushed down the steps to meet me, his hazel eyes fixed on mine. "Vivi!"

I held my breath when he picked me up, twirling me around before slapping his arm nervously. "Roman! Oh my gosh, we’re outside!"

"So what?" He grumbled, lowering me back to the ground. "I missed you. You know you should have come with us to LA. I’m bringing you on the next trip I take..." He trailed off as if he remembered something, his eyes darkening in anger for a minute before he shook his head.

"Look, I got you something."

He fished a small white box from his pocket, and inside, nestled on a bed of black satin, was a delicate silver key.

"It’s the key to an apartment like a ten-minute drive from here," he beamed excitedly, grinning down at me while my jaw almost crashed to the floor.

"Uh, what?!"

"You will love it! I promise. And if you don’t, I’ll have them tear it down and redo it-"

"Oh god no," I squeaked, shaking my head. "Ro, I can’t."

His face fell, and a worried, painful look climbed his face. "Why not? I don’t like your apartment. When you didn’t show up, I thought maybe you got drug poisoning or one of those thugs in your building had hurt you."

Drug poisoning? What on earth was he....Oh yeah, crap, he thought I was living in that nasty building downtown.

"It... It’s not so bad, I’m kind of used to it," I stuttered, trying to calm my heart that was throwing backflips.

"That’s not a thing to get used to, Vivi. Just take the house, please?"

"It’s just... it’s too much," I managed to force out. I needed to change the subject. I scanned his face, noticing some dark circles under his eyes. "What about Kai? Is he back too?"

Roman’s face went sour and moody. "He’s inside," he grumbled. "Is it selfish that I want your attention on me alone? That for five minutes, you just focus on me?"

What on earth was I supposed to say to that?

I opened my mouth to respond, but my phone buzzed with a text from Cody.

"Here you go, Lady. See, I promised you, you get the Live location."

I tapped the link open, and a map loaded, and two dots appeared on the screen. The blue dot was me, my phone’s location, and a red dot pulsed on the screen, showing the location of the blackmailer.

But it wasn’t across town. The moving dot was right here.

Inside the Knight residence. And it was moving directly towards me. The sound of footsteps echoed from behind the entrance door, and the door swung open.