The summer dress clung to Ivy’s skin, soaked through and nearly transparent, the outline of her underwear clearly visible – how could anyone expect her to go out and catch a cab like this?
Jamison ended his call and turned his gaze on the pair before him, his expression dark and heavy with menace. “What exactly were you hoping to accomplish by following Ivy?”
Neither of them answered. Their lips were sealed tight as clams.
Jamison pressed harder. “Micah, do you believe I can put you on a plane and make sure you never set foot in this country again?”
“No! Please, don’t!” Micah’s eyelashes fluttered, panic spreading across his face.
Jamison’s eyes narrowed, impatience written all over his features.
Micah swallowed hard and finally confessed, “She came to me. Asked where Ivy was. I didn’t want to say anything – Ivy barely even speaks to me. If I told her, and she went after Ivy, Ivy would hate me even more.”
Emma’s fists clenched at her sides, her teeth digging into her lip in humiliation. Her own fiancé, and every word out of his mouth was defending another woman. Not just any woman, either – her sworn enemy.
Micah kept going, “But then she said if I took her to Ivy, she could convince my mom to let me leave and travel. So I-”
That was all Jamison needed to hear. The two of them – thick as thieves. Neither worth a damn.
Jamison’s gaze shifted to Emma, whose face had gone a sickly mix of white and green. His voice was cool and low, laced with a chill that made Emma’s skin crawl. “Miss Emma, why are you so desperate to find Ivy? You’re the ones who drove her out of the Windsor family.”
Emma shrank under his stare, glancing up at him with frightened eyes before she finally managed to speak. “My mother is ill. She wants to see her.”
Jamison laughed – short, humorless.
“Go back and tell them to leave Ivy alone. If you keep harassing her, you’ll have me to deal with.” His smile never reached his eyes, and the threat in his voice was ice-cold.
Both Micah and Emma flinched, looking up at him in shock, mouths opening in protest.
But Jamison cut them off, his tone brooking no argument. “I know how tough things have been for the Windsor family these past two years, and I know exactly why you’re so eager to marry Micah, Emma. None of that concerned me before. I stayed out of it. But now that you’ve dragged Ivy into it, I won’t stand by.”
“Uncle-” Micah protested, unwilling to back down. “Ivy’s my girlfriend! You’re stealing her from me – how could you?”
Jamison looked at Emma. “Your fiancé just said that right in front of you. Aren’t you going to slap him?”
Emma was already seething, but Jamison’s words tipped her over the edge. She spun and slapped Micah hard across the face.
“You bastard! If you’re running back to Ivy, then what was my miscarriage for? What about all the pain I’ve suffered for you? Don’t think for a second you can just toss me aside!”
“I don’t love you anymore! What’s the point in clinging to me?”
“Ivy doesn’t love you either! What’s the point in chasing after her?”
Emma’s retort left him speechless.
As the tension hung in the air, Micah’s phone began to ring. It was his father, Farley. Micah didn’t dare ignore the call. “Hello, Dad…”
“Micah, listen to me: if you keep harassing Ivy, I’ll break your legs myself!” Farley’s voice thundered through the phone, brooking no argument.
Micah whined, refusing to give up. “Dad, I love Ivy. I thought she was sick before, but she’s not. I want her back.”
“Absolutely not! You’re marrying Emma, and you’re doing it soon. Everyone in our circle knows about you two, knows she lost your child. If you refuse to take responsibility, people will talk, and what will that do to the Shepherd family’s reputation?”
Farley, at least, saw things clearly. He cut straight through his son’s delusions, leaving no room for argument.
Chapter 173