Chapter 18

I enterthe room and see my wife sitting up, a blanket clutched to her chest.

And my heart breaks.

“You disappoint me, Ivy.”

She blinks at me.

I pull over a chair and take a seat. “I’m going to ask you a series of questions. If you lie to me, I’ll know it, and I promise to make you pay. Do you understand?”

She nods.

“Are you a part of an entity that calls themselves The Web?”

She looks down at the bedding.

“Answer me, Ivy.”

She nods.

“Say it!”

“Yes,” she finally says.

My stomach drops, though I don’t know why it should. I already knew what she was and her intentions for me.

But I have to hear them from her spider lips.

“Were you intending to kill me?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m sorry to say, but that’s not going to happen.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

“I never wanted you dead. Or…once I did, but I don’t now.”

“Don’t think for a second that you can weasel your way out of your punishment, which will be vast. If you thought Black Thorn Manor was bad, just wait until you’re locked in a real cage.”

“I know you have no reason to believe me, but I changed. Everything changed. I told my mother as much when I had lunch with her.”

I chuckle darkly. “You think I didn’t hear you talking with her? That charm bracelet I gave you transmitted your entire conversation to me. I heard everything.”

Her brow pinches. “Then you must have heard me refuse to kill you.”

“I heard no such thing. In fact, I distinctly heard you say you wanted to plan an accident.”

Her face twists in confusion, which makes no sense. I heard her talking about poisoning me at a restaurant, in front of my entire family.

And yet, she seems so sincere. She must be a better actor than I thought.

Which means nothing was real…

I shouldn’t be so hurt, yet I can hardly breathe. I’m utterly devastated.

“With what I have on you, I could easily go to the police.”

“That would be a mistake,” she says. “The Web has influence everywhere.”

“See, I told you,” Lance says from the doorway. “You don’t want to fuck with her people.”

“What’s going to happen to me?” she asks.

“I’m going to find a place to keep you until you give birth,” Mateo says.

“And then?”

I shrug. “I don’t know.”

“Will you kill me?” she asks, sounding unafraid.

“It was never my intention, but I honestly have no idea what I’ll do to you. I could keep you locked away for years, or I could snap. The only thing saving you now is our baby.”

A single tear breaks from her eyes, but she doesn’t argue with me.

“Leave us,” I call over my shoulder to Lance.

He closes the door and I wait until his footsteps disappear before saying, “I loved you.”

Her face jerks up, her eyes locking with mine. “What?”

“I knew what you were, and I loved you still. But hearing you plot my demise triggered something in me. Rage, sorrow, pain. I feel too much for you, and I can’t have that in my life.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I loved you, too.”

I snort derisively. “So much so that you were bent on making me a corpse.”

“You should listen to the recording again. Maybe you’ll hear something different.”

“What joke are you playing?”

“None. You really should listen.”

Ivy is good. She almost has me convinced, which is dangerous.

“I’m leaving now. You’ll not see me again for…months. Don’t try to escape. Don’t try to get ahold of anyone you once knew. Lance will watch over you until you give birth.”

She doesn’t say a word as I exit the room.

“What’s going on?” Lance says as I enter the kitchen.

“I’m leaving.”

“I didn’t agree to take her.”

“No, but you will.” I pull out several hundred dollars and place it on the counter. “This is all I have on me, but I think a cool million will suffice.”

“For holding her hostage? I could go to jail—or worse—The Web could find me.”

“At least think on it over the weekend. She’ll never get reported as missing, so no one will be looking for her.”

“Jesus Christ,” he growls, shoving his fingers through his hair.

I exit his cabin and climb into the waiting car. “Take me back to the helicopter,” I tell the driver.

She obeys without question.

I think back to my conversation with Ivy, wondering why she was so confident. Why she’d tell me to re-listen to the recording when she so obviously was plotting my death.

And even though I said I wouldn’t, I go to the audio file and hit PLAY.

Again, they discuss poison, and where best to kill me, but instead of turning it off, I listen until the very end.

Ivy:I don’t believe I’ll be staying in The Web.

Herminia: That’s what you say now.

Ivy: I’m not going through with it. Tell The Web I’m out.

Herminia: Did you fall for him?

Ivy: You could say that.

Herminia: Well, you can’t just leave. They’ll kill you. Heck, they may even kill me.

Ivy:I’ll see what Mateo can do to protect us, but I can’t go through with?—

Herminia: You-don’t-have-a-choice!

The recording clicks, ending.

I sit for a solid minute processing what I just heard.

She was being honest and was going to risk her very life walking away from them.

And I’ve utterly failed her.

I rack my brain, trying to figure out how to make things right, but the thing that matters most is safety. We’re in very real danger, because The Web has withstood the test of time, largely because they don’t shy away from murder.

Lance will keep Ivy safe, for now. But forcing her to hide her entire life is cruel. I have to fix this and make this right.

And I think I know how.

I email the head of security, telling them to have Herminia’s apartment surrounded. Once they’re there, I enter Herminia’s text box, hoping the woman isn’t completely heartless.

Mateo:Tell me everything about The Web, and keep in mind, if you tell even one lie, both you and Ivy will pay dearly.