Chapter 70: Chase Wellsbury

Ivy’s pov

The man who spoke had brown hair, his brown eyes twinkling as he stepped forward from among the men, holding out a hand. "I’m Tyler, ma’am; it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Oh, for goodness sake, Tyler, stop trying to charm everything with a skirt." Milo’s voice had me stiffening, and seeing him walk through the door, with that nice, easy smile on his face hiding his vile, evil nature underneath, just made me sick.

"Besides, Ivy isn’t on the market, right?" He shot me a grin, eyes daring me, and I swear for a second I imagined poking his eyes with my finger. His eyes then flitted away from me to Gideon.

"Right, Gid? She’s married, right?"

"Miss Harpley’s personal life is none of my business, or any of yours, gentlemen."

"Fair point," Milo chuckled, scooting closer to Gideon to whisper something in his ear.

My chest felt so tight, someone might as well have stuffed me in a bottle and spun me around. What poison was that bastard whispering into Gideon’s ear?

Gideon nodded, his sapphire blue eyes falling on mine. I held my breath for those few seconds. Did he miss me at the club on Saturday?

We were supposed to meet, and I had assured him we would, but there was no way I could manage that with Father watching my movements like a hawk after that nonsense display Angel did at dinner.

"That works." Gideon nodded curtly, and Milo stepped away.

"I’ll go get Kai and Ro. When Mr Wellsbury arrives, he’ll call, and I’ll come get him."

"Thanks, Milo." Then Gideon turned to me. "Miss Harpley, these gentlemen aren’t here to wait all day. Can the conference room be prepared in twenty minutes?"

"It will be ready in ten, sir."

With my spine stiff as a rod, I practically fled to the conference room. My hands were shaking as I wiped down the long, polished table, my conscience screaming and eating deep that if I did this, then wasn’t I just like Milo.

But really, this was to protect my father and the company. His brothers keep coming after my father without cause; they wanted to swallow up Kingsley and Co. I could not allow that.

I took out the small, black listening device and pressed the disc into the soft, felt underside of the table, closer to the head of the desk.

Then I cleaned the rest of the place and walked out, finding a nearby room to clean, some piano room, and plugged my earphones into my phone, ready to listen.

Thirty minutes later, I was listening in to the conference.

"...Sheikh is reconsidering," Roman’s honeyed rumble reached my ears, and I had to press my lips hard together to keep a smile from tugging at my lips. Even in the conference hall, he sounded so chill and laid back, speaking softly.

I honestly couldn’t picture him beating up that man in that room. Speaking of which, they had moved the man in that room. I had snuck there last week to take pictures of the man, just in case it would come in handy, but there wasn’t even a single trace that a bruised and battered man was in that room.

That was chilling.

Did they kill him? What did they do with him? Roman had said they found out who sent the man, but I knew who sent the man, and he was the piece of shit currently speaking.

"Isn’t it crazy how the Sheikh was sure the government hadn’t approved the state?"

"Nah, what’s crazy, Milo," Kai snarled, and the sound of his voice sent a different jolt through me.

"...Is that we were so sure the government already approved it, only to check again and guess what? They withdrew the fucking approval! Callaway is a fucking leech, but there’s no way he could have done that all on his own."

"So what do we do now?" One of the other men at the conference chirped, and for a few minutes there was a lot of noise and back-and-forth, chattering filling the air until a deep, low voice called out.

"That’s enough."

Holy moly, he didn’t even need to shout. That cold, deep voice sent chills down my spine, and I wasn’t even in the same room with him. What other person could pull off something like that but Gideon?

Maybe I should have gone to Extasim this weekend anyway. I wanted to be touched again, to be punished again, to hear him tell me how good I was or gaze down at me with those intense sapphire eyes as he called me ’Amber’.

The door to the room where I was suddenly swung open, making me jump, terrified as hell. I fell over the piano and quickly bolted upright. Had they found out I was listening in?

"Sorry, excuse me." A man in his late fifties or early sixties, with silver hair mixed with black at his temples and a dignified Italian brown suit, stood before the door. "Where’s the conference...?"

He trailed off, his eyes widening as if he had seen a ghost.

My stomach dropped. I ripped the earbud from my ear, my hand flying to my phone. Oh god, was it blaring out of the speaker? I checked the screen. The earphone icon was lit. It was plugged in.

So why did he look so pale?

"Leti?" He gasped, his hands trembling; I thought he was going to have a freaking heart attack. I rushed to him.

"Are you okay, sir?"

He blinked rapidly, shaking his head as if to clear it. "I... I beg your pardon. Where’s the conference being held? I told these kids to have someone waiting for me at the door. Their house is too big for an old man like me to wander around."

A tiny smile tugged at my lips. "You’re not so old, but yeah, the place is pretty huge."

"Huge is an understatement," He grunted.

"The conference room is just down the hallway. I can show you, sir," I offered, my voice trembling slightly.

"Thank you, you’re very kind," he fell into step beside me as I walked outside, leading him down the hall. "You know, I didn’t think Gideon would hire someone like you for a housekeeper."

My brows furrowed, confused. "Why do you say that?"

"I’ve known the Knights for a long time. They have a... type when it comes to housekeepers. They’re usually older. I’m Chase, by the way."

"Ivy," I replied automatically as we reached the doors to the conference room.

"Ivy," he repeated, his eyes searching mine, a strange, intense light in them, and I could swear he looked even paler. "Thank you, Ivy."

When he walked into the room, I stood there processing what the hell just happened. Who was he? Was he the Wellsbury Milo had said would call when he arrived?

Chase Wellsbury.

That name rang a bell, but I couldn’t place it. And when he first saw me, he had called me Leti.

Who on earth was Leti-

My breath snagged as realization dawned on me.